Sleep All Fall
by Statchar
Summary: One minute into a millennium. The cold Goddess would have to relinquish her grip one day. It was nothing more than a dream, but it was the reality. It was in this desolate place that he would fall for the goddess
1. Panic's Out

**A/N:Because I have no sense of self-restraint. So… always wondered how this might work, it was a challenge to even think of the idea. I'm also under no illusion that this relationship is fucked up, that's the point. The summary should be clear enough.**

 **Kaguya is...different, I wanted something to do something with it.**

 **Word count, around 40k, probably shorter. Chapters will be short too, and will vary in length. Though, I will update 3k minimum.**

 **A Side Project, so I update whenever I feel like it.**

* * *

 _The First Minute_

This wasn't so hard. Who told him being Hokage would be a difficult job? It had been an easy life so far, and it could only get better.

The taste of coffee, an open window that filled the room with a breeze of the village. Uncertain of the smell, but he did know it relaxed him, it was home. Even then, a creeping cool air ran up his spine and made him shiver.

Naruto had been at it for a while now, so perhaps it was from staying in the same position for a length amount of time. There was nothing to be wary of here, in his home, and in the Hokage's office. To go even further, _he_ was the Hokage, a title the spoke volumes of the strength of the person.

After all the voices of reason, there was still a spark of doubt that spoke to him.

There was no solid reasoning to his concern, he could blame it on the nightmare that troubled him last night. In response, he focused on the document in front of him.

Naruto's eyes scanned the printed words on the paper, he had already read through it twice. He signed in his name and set the document aside in the corner of the hardwood desk.

It was different being seated on this side, the other end was more familiar. Naruto stood up from the seat to view the village he had sworn to protect. Even as he done his work, that feeling had never disappeared, and it grew in intensity. A terror slept and it watched. He tracked every shadow, every crease and crack that he could see in the buildings.

 _The First Hour._

The door shut behind him. The beat of his heart slowed, and he wanted so much to turn his gaze toward it, but he stopped. He wasn't ready, for whatever it was. A voice called his title. Another slow, agonizing, chill crept up his spine.

Naruto knew that voice, he would know it anywhere. It was fresh in his mind, he wouldn't forget anytime soon.

Naruto stared into the living eyes of a dead man. A person who had died last night. Neji Hyuuga. Someone who had given his life to save him from a place he should have never been in the first place.

Last night? No, that made no sense. He was alive and well, in front of him. This caricature of Neji stood straighter, and barked out words. "I'd like to report a mission successful Lord Hokage."

Naruto paled, it was as he remembered his voice- What were these thoughts? What was going on?

"Is there something the matter Lord Hokage?"

"Dismissed," Naruto said. "Write a report. I have something to do."

Easy words spilled from his mouth. He walked past the desk, and spared no glance at the dead. Words echoed in Naruto's mind as he did so.

"I aspire to be like this Hokage."

These thoughts were not his. It was Neji's, that should be impossible. Did that even sound like him?

He hastened his steps and slammed the door behind him. There was a flash of red as he bumped into someone he hadn't noticed. Contents flew into the air and he caught them with ease, nothing ruined, in perfect condition. Words were spelled, 'Happy Birthday Naruto.'

Naruto froze, he read, and he reread it again.

"No! Damn it, watch it- Oh."

He knew that voice that cursed, and saw the long smooth red hair that belonged to his mother. A lump formed, and it was impossible to speak.

"Naruto! This was supposed to be a surprise." Kushina Uzumaki complained.

He noticed his father that stood behind him, a sheepish smile. "Kushina, you expected to surprise a Hokage."

"Of course, he's still my son!"

The interaction brought him of his stupor and Naruto handed back the cake. "Hold on! I need to do something important."

"Aww really? Be back soon!"

He ran through the halls, a golden light encased him. What was going on? His head hurt, so… hard to think! Why did he want to hurt someone so badly! None of this should be happening.

Naruto blew the hinges off the door that let him outside. He watched it tumble below, crashing into the dirt. No one was around. He took a deep breath, it was as he remembered the air of the village, but none of it felt fresh. It felt as he was trapped in a room, and there was no air left to breathe.

He looked to the top of the building. A quick jump to the roof, and made his way to the overview of the village. Naruto gazed behind to view the busts of the previous Hokage, there was him as the sixth, but it felt alien. He scoured the village, it was as he remembered it, every street, building…

Except it wasn't.

No, it had to be. He lived an entire life here, a whole twenty…

He grasped his head, and every breath was deep and strained. He knew. Everything set into place, the last, true memory came to him.

Every single moment felt wrong. None of this real, despite the jagged, and conflicted memories that were not his. This was an illusion, nothing more than a fabrication created for him.

The bars he held onto broke under the pressure of his grip. The building shook as he collected his chakra. The furthest he could take it, and every source of power he had on his command.

This visage of the world broke, the village dispersed. A brief darkness before everything collected, and reimagined into a world of ice. The cold air stabbed at his lungs and a touch brought his gaze to others beside him.

"Don't worry we got you." Sasuke muttered before he raced forward. The others, Sakura, Kakashi, Obito all followed close in stride.

Naruto floated in the air, and the winds howled. He looked at his hands, gripped them, and shook his head.

"Impossible." A woman murmured.

The voice brought his attention, and he looked up to see the figure that belonged to Kaguya Ootsutsuki. Pale, a third eye, horns, and a long white dress. Here they were, fighting against a Goddess with almost limitless power.

He watched as Sakura, Obito, Kakashi move against her. They dodged, move with precision as Kaguya attacked them. Obito's Susanoo trapped her within her grasp.

But even then…

Sasuke teleported behind her, and yet Naruto still didn't move. "Naruto! Finish her!"

It was fake.

"Stop it! Stop this crap!"

He was not here. This was not real. The world went silent, a flip of a switch and it all swept away. Everyone disappeared.

"Halt?" A voice asked. His limbs paralyzed, and he could not move, no matter how much he willed it too. There was only a white, blank world. Nothing existed, except for her. Kaguya moved in front of him, a sideways glance. Her blank, white eyes narrowed. "Is that a command?"

"You've won? Haven't you!" Naruto shouted.

"Not quite," Kaguya looked away. No matter how small her smile was, it would always be sinister. "Your allies still fight, but it would be lifetimes for you until they arrive."

"Why are you doing this? Why don't you kill me and get it over with?"

"Such a question. Ages have passed and it's never seen changed."

He screamed, and he could finally move. The invisible shackles no longer bounded him. There was her alone, nothing else existed, nothing else mattered. He ran toward the goddess, intent on destroying all of her, to leave only ash. He called his technique to his hand, and surged as much power through it.

He hit her and there was nothing to describe the euphoria as he watched her fly away, trapped within the confines his technique. There was an explosion, it was so large that he thought he had died with her.

A blink, and it all disappeared. The landscape changed, and all he saw was mountains and snow. He saw his breath, it was cold. This wasn't really the cold, was it? No matter what happened here, whether he be maimed, blinded, it wouldn't translate into the real world.

"Did that give you some measure of satisfaction?"

His blood ran cold, and he shivered. Behind him, she kneeled on the ground, her dress and hair spread on the cold white underneath, her dainty hand traced the soft snow. She was unharmed, free, indifferent. Those eyes stared, they spoke to him; He was no threat.

"Or, will you continue?"

"Let me out of here." Naruto said, an unnatural calm to his voice. The overabundance of energy had been used.

"Is that in your nature? To fight for a worthless cause, and to ask useless questions?"

"What the hell do you want from me?"

He was ignored, "Why do humans cling to their lives? There is no value."

"We don't think the same way as you do."

"Is that all? How interesting, to fight for nothing."

"Let me go, let me out of this fake world."

"Return what was once mine, and you will no longer suffer." She replied. Kaguya paid no attention to him, in her grasps, snow fell from her hand and was lost in the wind.

Naruto knew what she referred too. What granted him his power, that everyone living in the world had; Chakra. It was a vital essence, if it were taken, it was certain death. "Never. No matter what you do, you'll fail."

Kaguya said nothing, instead, she swept her hand across the snow. "Will your response be the same in a millennium's time?"

That was…impossible? Wasn't it? "It doesn't matter if it's two. I keep my word, it'll never change."

For once, a look of displeasure crossed her features. "If that is the case, only death awaits you at the end."

He will always defy her, he would never give in. "Then I die,"

"Then suffer."


	2. Walking with Spiders

_The First Day._

Naruto stared at the white blank sky of the world. He thought of nothing, and he day-dreamt of nothing.

He was alone now. The cold was no longer present, the mountain ranges disappeared. Nothing more than a creation of her will. The world was empty, he laid on nothing. No, maybe he was standing. He looked behind him, and there was nothing but the white, blank slate of this world. A world filled with space.

This was the first day, and he was losing his mind. Nothing was real, after all. Would this be best?

Kaguya had left, a blink and she was gone. But Naruto knew, this was her dominion, she would always be watching.

His thoughts, were likely his own. Though, he wasn't certain. What did she plan to do? What would she do? He supposed, it didn't matter. He had to escape, he had to endure.

Naruto would have escape, but no matter what much chakra he gathered to interrupt this illusion, nothing work.

That was the only thing he could do, other than wait if his comrades could help him.

Would it really be a thousand years?

He shook his head to wipe the thoughts. He placed his hands in a seal to gather chakra, and expunged it. It didn't work, so he tried again. And again, and again, and again, until he could go no longer.

 _The First Week_

He walked the plains. The grass swayed, but there was no wind–unnatural–, but the breeze blew and the world resumed order. The sky was empty and lifeless when a tinge of blue spread into the horizon, and clouds formed and shifted in the air.

He resumed his leisurely stroll, but it was just that, and it wasn't enough. The ground beneath him grew, and his steps went higher to find purchase. He looked toward the steep, and it went forever. He continued, and after some time, his legs began to burn.

Naruto stopped to rest when he could go no longer. He sat, and watched as the sun dipped behind the world. The moon appeared above, and he gazed at the glowing sliver until it disappeared. No matter the time he waited, the burn in his legs had never healed. Gold light broke through the clouds, and it was time to move.

He pressed on in his climb of the never-ending mountain. He ate food when he was hungry, and drank when he was thirsty. No matter how much he rested, the pain in his legs never found relief.

What was Kaguya planning? Why did she give him the ability to shape the world on a whim? He didn't understand it. A goddess watched over him, and it wasn't for the goodness of her heart. There was no divine protection. It was quite the company, and a quiet one.

The pain that he felt, it wasn't real, but the way his tendons burned, it was as every bit as he remembered.

He got tired of this endless climb, and the mountain receded until it was flat. The ground trembled, fell, and was swallowed by golden sands. All he saw were dunes, and the sand blew away at the tips. He wandered the desert for days.

He collapsed, his mouth dry and parched. Lips cracked and bleeding. He crawled through the coarse sand, until he magically came across an oasis. He dipped his head in for water, before he fell inside and dropped to the bottom. Naruto took a breath, and he forgot to drown.

There was just nothing much to do. He didn't have to drink, he didn't have to eat. He ran to distract from his problem. He wished to be exhausted, so became it.

The heavy limbs, the weakness, and how the breaths were always shallow and you couldn't any more air.

Water spilled into his lungs–Exhaustion forgotten–and he was forced to the surface.

 _The first month_

"What the hell is there to do!" He screamed. There was no was echo. "It's all fake!" His voice sounded in the ravines of the jungle.

He was supposed to go a thousand years without seeing another person? When was the last time he spoke a word? Almost a month had passed, hadn't it? There was sweat in his brow from the heat and humidity of the jungle.

"I've been wandering for so damn long in this empty dream, there's nothing for me here.

"Then create."

He turned to see Kaguya. She stood on ice. Clear, clean, and abyssal. In fact, there was nothing anywhere; only ice beneath their feet.

"Create what?" He replied. There was no use fighting her, and nothing he could do would ever hurt her.

"Anything you desire." Her arm extended to him, palm flat against the sky. The stars above twinkled, before colors flared to life. Lights in the sky that shifted every moment of every color. He had heard about this phenomenon, but he had never seen it.

"Why did you give me the ability to do this?"

"Yet, another worthless one." She replied, and her eyes narrowed. "Weakening already? A day, or a year means little to me, but it has not even begun."

"Shut up!" He made her disappear, but she appeared on his right.

"If you do not like such a thing, create your ideal world."

"It'll never be." He closed his eyes, but they were eyes wide shut.

"I hold the true dominion here, or is this your idea of perfection?"

"No, of course not! I have no reason too, this is just all fake. They're nothing at all."

"We share the same beliefs."

"Far from it!" Naruto replied.

"Is there?" Kaguya tilted her head.

What kind of question is that? Kaguya, the cold goddess. It was a fitting name for someone with a lack of basic human understanding. What the hell happened to her?

Or, was she messing with him? He didn't know, but she was like this when he had fought in the real world.

"What are you?" He asked, but she was already gone.

He walked into the wreckage of the building. The wood was black and rotten, moss grew in the dark corners of the room. Grass grew inside and plants in bloom where the sun reached them. A small reflection caught his eye, glass hidden under the cover of the fauna. He found a picture frame, but there was nothing when he turned it over.

He looked up, the decadent room becoming a familiar sight. Another glance at the picture frame showed a photo of Team Seven. He glared at Sasuke, while the other boy was none too impressed. The other two were smiling, Kakashi and Sakura.

Naruto missed them.

The last time he talked was when Kaguya had last approached him, only two encounters so far, nearly a month since he was brought here.

Naruto clambered over a fallen wall to the reach the roof above. He saw everything outside, the overgrown Village of the Hidden Leaf. Trees grew out of houses, moss and other fauna grew from village. He looked down below to the streets, pools of water, and stream had taken over the pedestrian walkway.

A look at the Hokage monument still displayed the five previous Hokage. Perfect, just as he remembered it. Nothing reached or tarnished the image of the five.

This dream was too cruel. He wouldn't wish it upon his worst enemy. No matter how often he said it, nothing was real.

A life of solitude was not possible. He was a month in, and he couldn't possibly see how he could last one thousand years.

Every day in his youth, those days wanting to forgotten in his mind, was dealt trying to find any sort of comfort from the darkness of loneliness. No matter how small or juvenile the attempts he made to find it.

Here he was…alone. This was nothing but a conjuration of his village.

The only certainty, that he could say with utter, absolute resolve was that Kaguya possessed her own will. She –despite the illusory technique–was real; Her ideals, beliefs, were all her own to keep.

He didn't want to create. He didn't want these powers. The people that he hadn't even made would never have their own will, they would be nothing more than puppets.

Then again, what was the use of waiting until the millennium passed? He was certain that Kaguya had her palm to his stomach, her all-killing ash bone primed to kill him the moment he was freed.

He could surrender, or he could die. There was no way out of this.

No.

Never.

He would choose his death, he will not go quietly into the night. This was too defy all Kaguya believed, however inhuman it may be. He had to survive the years he was trapped, and even if the very moment he was freed was death, it would be an act of defiance.

All he had to do, was survive.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3. Into the rabbit hole**

The length of the fiber-glass rod ran long, it dipped out, over the edge and peered inside the endless blue. The thread was the more courageous one, it pierced underneath the surface, deep inside the waters. At the at end of the thread–What was it called?–was a lure with bait attached to it.

There was four-five parts to a fishing rod, of course, the reel brought it back in. The reel would… reel in the thread.

Its name couldn't be thread, right? It had to something else; more akin to fishing names. Reel, rod, bait, lure, and thread. Thread felt _wrong._

He decided to focus on the tip of his fishing rod, watching it dip ever so slightly, it was tempting to see it bend – The sign of a catch. Of course, it would mean a fish awaited at the end, the grand prize of all fishermen.

"I wonder what kind of fish is here? Is it even possible to get lobster or something around here? I can really go for lobster, I heard it's delicious, I never got to try it. Sakura once told me she went to this fancy restaurant with Ino and they got to try lobster, and some other fancy dish that I don't remember. I just remember how she said it was good that I had to try it. I never asked how it tasted, and I never got around to going to that place. What was it called again? I went there once, I remember it being expensive. So I never got to try it,"

Something cracked in the grasp of his fingers. He took a deep breath of the cool, humid air. The loosened his grip, but his finger still felt rigid.

He was starving, he reasoned.

The rod pulled downward, so much so, like it would break. He felt the twitches in his hand from the rod. The stomach shouted, his mouth watered. The brain, however, was disappointed. The line halted, the rod snapped back straight and frozen.

Do lobster even bite after bait and lures? It is even capable of biting something like that? Along the lines of these thoughts, he remembered fishermen also used nets. There was no god damn net on this boat. How was he even going to get a net? The ocean was deep, he didn't even know how far it went.

Something cracked and shattered in his hand, it fell against the wooden floor of the boat.

"Damnit!" He shouted.

He reeled in the line, and before long, the lure swayed from the winds. He stared long, a desire to see it burn to ash in his hands welled inside him. Of course, that did not happen, such a thing wasn't possible.

"Fuck fishing!" He heaved the fishing rod, spun around, and flung it off the boat and into the distance. There was a measure of satisfaction, seeing the rod float, before sinking into the ocean.

This was way too hard, especially when he couldn't adhere to the rules.

He watched the sun. It dipped into the ocean; nearing the beginning of its sleep.

A threatening rumble. Behind him, in the seemingly endless ocean–because he hadn't thought about land–bloated, angry clouds, a corruption that continued to spread.

"That doesn't look good," He paused. "Well that's obvious,"

He moved through mess of the small boat. He alone could manage it. He pulled along the length of the rope, the coarse material ran through his hands. The sail and wood, lurched forward, swaying in the direction of the fast winds. The boat leaned to the right, water spilled in, staining the wood.

Naruto put his attention on the steering reel, how exactly did these things turn? What were they called? A rudder! Rudders underneath the boat allowed them to turn without the sails being moved, and allowed for precise maneuvering.

He turned the wheel, and the boat righted itself, surging forward.

That's how it worked; How it will always work in here. It was so much easier in the real world; They were just…there. He didn't have to think about it, just live and breathe and do. Simple, easy.

He didn't pay attention to how much time passed, all he focused on was the painful pangs in his empty stomach. Up to the moment the storm had caught up.

The clouds above had overtaken the calm blue, now convulsing with thunder and light. Rain fell from the sides, pelting him with its large drops. The waves grew rough, crashing and heaving. The boat–a slave to the ocean–Bent to the will of the storm.

Water spilled into the deck and washed away. Rain flew in from sideways, crashing against everything.

From the brief time he spent on boats, it was always wet. The decks were wet, inside was soaked, his clothing was drenched, anything and everything. In fact, he was sick of the waters now. But just because he was sick of it, didn't mean it was going to end.

The freezing touch of the ocean was never-ending. The waves were now mountainous, shifting and endless.

He held on the railing for support, his ship went sideways, but righted itself before it could drown. He rode at the apex of the waves, before dropping back into the water, very much like a ship should behave.

His limbs shook, goosebumps littered his flesh, and his fingers gripped the wheel so hard it felt like it might break. Even through all this, his heart was constant, calm, collected.

Up until, there was something he didn't expect.

A cliff of water that reached the skies. No. This wasn't in any rules. For the first time, in such a long while that he could barely remember, his heart flickered. The shadow of the wave drowned out the light. It warped, like a hand wrapping around his ship.

The water rushed upward, a wall, and his ship pierced its veil. It ripped his ship apart, anything untied or loose, was thrown overboard.

He knew a little about the ocean; cold, salty, and filled with life. Fuck the Ocean.

The muted crashes of waves far above. The mysteries of the ocean around him. It was cold too, his fingertips tingled unpleasantly. He still felt his weight, planted on the wooden deck beneath his feet. The sails of his boat flowed like wind push it.

This wasn't how things worked. It wasn't supposed to work like this, it wasn't even close.

"Hey, work damnit, don't break the rules. You see, we're supposed to sink. Ships aren't supposed to swim. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be really dark, and I'm not supposed to know which way is up or down." He neared the edge of his ship, and looked down below. "Hell, how am I talking right now?"

There was hum, and his heart stopped its beat. "When will you set aside play things?"

Her voice, melting, almost sinister, droll. However, with that melodious, enthralling tone, he couldn't have imagined how lovely the sound of another voice felt.

Naruto swallowed a thick lump. He turned to face her the source of the voice. Kaguya went down the couple of steps. Her hand daintily tracing the rails, her hair trailed behind her, tendrils flowing above from the weightlessness of water.

"What? Getting tired of waiting?" Naruto replied. He was almost uncertain on how to speak. How this dance of words was supposed to go with another person.

"Strange. No, I possess nothing of the sort," Kaguya said. She didn't glance in his direction at all. She stared idly at the things that laid around on his ship.

"Then," He paused. "Why don't you just get it over with?"

"You asked the same question not long ago,"

"Not long ago?" He sputtered. "Short a couple weeks, it's been almost…a year."

She spared a glance, her white eyes settling on him before she turned and gazed up into the surface.

Naruto felt all the fight in him disappear. The bitter taste of her presence all but disappeared. He couldn't bear to stand anymore, so he sat and leaned against the rails.

There was something about the silkiness of her voice that enraptured him; How she spoke to him, how it sounded. It was almost devoid of emotion, yet, simultaneously, filled with raw life.

It was so long ago since he heard another voice.

He cried no tears, she couldn't see this in the ocean. He hated how time had passed. He wished he never kept track, but he had too. Otherwise he wouldn't know how much longer he had to hold on.

"This will all be over one day?" He didn't want to it come out as a question.

"It will, yet, you already know how this will end,"

He couldn't remember the details of their last conversation. He yearned to hear more; To remind himself he was not alone in this world.

"I would never do this to another person, never, it's too cruel,"

"This is mercy,"

"This _is_ torture."

"Is it?" Kaguya tilted her head to the side, her white eyes in puzzlement. Was she human? Could it ever be forgotten? She smiled, "How so?"

He didn't want to respond. Something curled in his gut when she continued to talk.

"Nonetheless, you have power to ease the journey. Why do you cause yourself strife? It's hardly any less than what the rest of the world is experiencing."

He had closed his eyes, listening to every word she said. How she would pronounce her words, slow, methodical. It carried through the water, like she spoke into his ear.

"Whatever gives you joy, it can continue, but not forever, not in here."

"We're just repeating ourselves now,"

She didn't respond. He opened his eyes, and she was nowhere in sight. It was only him and ship underneath his feet. The dominion he held had returned to him. The ship sunk, as did his heart.

All he saw was darkness. He didn't know which way was up, which way was down. All he could think was her words; There was truth them. He couldn't do this any longer, to be alone in this world.

When would she return? 330 days was the last time he had spoken to her. Kaguya had said it was not long ago. It had felt an eternity to him.

It was time to stop being so stubborn. Even if it was just a creation of his imagination, he had couldn't go on any longer without seeing another person. It hurt too much, it reminded him of bygone days, that he never wanted to return too.

Why did she have to leave?


	4. Ship of Hope

He tried getting drunk once. He was twenty in this world, so his promise was kept. Disregarding the one time he accidentally drank a sip, he never had alcohol. That logic in hand, he had never gotten drunk. It couldn't be replicated by dream drink. So, it was a worthless endeavor.

On another occasion, he reimagined moments in his childhood. 'What if' scenarios ran rampant, like what if his parents had raised him. He wasn't a participant, but rather, a spectator. He watched like a silent, and invisible god. Part way, he realized that this person wouldn't have been him. It was also hard to imagine it after a period of time.

He often divulged himself with massive amounts of ramen. Every kind of ramen dish he could think of, he made and ate it.

All of it, were simple pleasures in life. The only limit was his imagination. However, through it all he felt constrained. Limited by the world he knew because he didn't know how something tasted, or how something looked. Whether he knew the parents of a person, or other members of their family.

He decided to explore another avenue.

Naruto watched with abated breath. Whether guided by instinct, or done intentionally, each movement was precise and controlled. A single misstep, or the wrong choice would end in death. The stakes had never been higher.

It was all glancing blows, or blocked strokes. A sweep of a kick that went clear, or a punch that was parried. The stalemate broke, a punch to the face, disorientated, another in the ribs. The victim retaliated with a headbutt.

There was something satisfying about the crack when it landed; He keeled back, a hand clutched his nose, stunned and bleeding. He didn't see the kick, and he was sent away into the brush.

A lapse in a perfect string, it existed only to break the monotony.

The momentary victor in the round, shook his head–wiping the daze away–and rushed in after his attacker.

He followed, unnoticed, it would be easy to change the tide, but he couldn't interfere in things already predetermined. Goosebumps crawled over his skin, and a shiver of delight. This was just how he imagined it.

How both of these individuals looked, the landscape, their skill.

The fight continued, the exhaustion begun to set in between the two fighters. The spring to their steps grew heavier, and the strikes sloppy and slow.

The protagonist jumped away, shuriken being thrown from his hand. Most went wide, and the rest deflected and dodged.

Kunai were brandished by both sides as they met one another, each strike meant to kill, aimed for vitals.

The singing of metal, as they scrapped and clashed. Until the blonde was disarmed; the kunai disappearing in the forest. He was too slow to stop an attack, a gasp, as a knife plunged into his jacket.

A smoke bomb exploded, and the injured one flew into the trees. He knelt against the trunk, with strained and quiet gasps.

"You're still around here, aren't you? Just give up," words shouted from a hunter.

Naruto's hand went to the kunai embedded in the jacket, and pulled it out. The tip of the blade was coated in blood.

"Come on out! Honestly, why do you even try?" The person yelled. "There's no use, it's hopeless. Just give up,"

"How about you give up, on trying to make me give up!"

Everything froze, the two characters still and lifeless. Naruto creased his brows, a thumb going to his tooth and flicking it. The scene reversed, before the character jumped into the trees. It continued again, and the two interacted with one another before he restarted it once again.

They said different things, or did something else.

"That can't be right," he muttered. A frown, and a sigh. The day darkened, but he continued to try and fix it. The hours passed.

He gave up, and seated his back against a tree trunk. Naruto watched the character he was named after, in another scene that he could recall, and another. Nearly all of them had the same troublesome problem; It didn't feel right. Naruto forged on, until the moment it was all over.

"I forgot," he murmured. "I thought that was impossible,"

It seemed so long ago. The specifics lost in his memory. Failing to envision the scene to its exact depiction felt like he sullied the memory. He couldn't properly honor it, not when he didn't possess the material.

However terrible the realization, he could never forget the message inside. He supposed that's where it mattered.

He had to do something else.

* * *

The shrill whines woke him. Like a choir that sung in harmony. Repeated by dozens of the rats in the skies. He was going crazy, they weren't synced at all. Then he heard the waves, calmly sweeping along the shore.

He opened his eyes to see a seagull. It tried its best to nonchalantly approach, side stepping and prodding along the ground in an attempt to be stealthy.

Naruto sat up. The sudden movement terrified it. The seagull screamed at him and flew away,

There was so many of them in the skies. Along the shore, on the beach, and on top of floating pieces of wood. There was no sign of his ship, other than the debris that belonged to the hull.

What annoyed him most was his cracked lips and dry throat. His head pounded, and he felt sand stick to his hair.

Groggily, he stood up. A ship wreck of course, in a strange land of somewhere unknown. He watched the foam from the ocean float ashore. The salt water looked mighty tasty to him, but he knew the sea wouldn't parch his throat.

 _She_ just felt the need sink the ship. That was not a nice thing to do. It was very rude.

Now he lost everything, or so he thought. Coins clinked together as shook his coat free of the sand. Though, he had little else other than the salt crusted clothes on his back.

With nothing else to do, he walked the shore. Through and natural quarry, he encountered a large bay, shaped like a crescent moon. The tide went lower, and he watched the salt water recede from the bay until it was nothing more than a pool of water in the middle.

Proceeding through, he stayed in sight of the ocean side. It was many hours until he found any semblance of civilization. Hidden away from the restless ocean, and into an alcove. A dock rested with a boat tied to it.

Naruto followed a worn path beaten by years of treks. Hidden deeper above a hill, a small house rested in a clearing. He heard the beating chop of wood being splintered, they clunked together as they were sorted.

The smell of fish was heavy and nearby on a table were freshly caught fish stacked in rows. Naruto went closer to the sound, and he saw the source of the noise. A tall, aging man was in the process of cutting wood.

He was noticed, a grunt as the weighty axe rested on the stranger's shoulder. Wary dark eyes settled on him. He was silent for a while as he was gauged. "I don't get much visitors," he said gruffly.

"I washed up ashore," Naruto replied. His voice coarse. It was surprising to talk to another person.

The man scratched his beard with a calloused hand, from all the fishing and work he done with his hands. "You alone?" he asked, wary but concerned.

"Just myself, there was no one else on board."

"I suppose you're happy to be alive,"

Naruto decided not to answer.

The man dug his axe into a large stump. He wiped his hands, "C'mon, you look rough. The least I can do is help a needing man."

He nodded instead of speaking. He was led to the porch of the cabin, but not inside. Instead he was told to wait while the old man got whatever he needed within. There were a few inklings of the man's life. The trophy of a boar hung above the door, the hide of an animal spread to dry on some contraption in the corner.

This was a man of the wild. Who lived off the wilderness and perhaps reveled in it.

He returned with a plate of food and a pitcher. The man placed the items on a table, and said he could eat. He left again.

The smell of spiced fish and potatoes hit his nostrils, reminding him that he was starving and thirsty. Naruto dug into the food with gusto, though, he eyed the pitcher with interest. There was no cup, but the man returned with a couple of glasses and filled them.

The man handed him a glass that he gingerly took. "Care to tell me of your troubles that landed you here?"

Naruto realized it wasn't water, but wine instead. The heavy smell of something fruity invaded his nostrils. He took a sip, the strange taste of alcohol reminded him of his master accidentally slipping him a flask of wine instead of water. It tasted like rotten fruit.

He was thirsty enough to not be bothered by it too much, and took a generous helping. "There's not much to say. I was alone at sea, when a storm took me by surprise," as well as a certain person.

"Not familiar with the sea?" He asked. Naruto shook his head as he ate and drank more. "Why were you out there then?"

"I wanted to see the world,"

"Then you ought to return where you came from, this isn't a beautiful place."

He shrugged, "there's nothing for me, so I might as well find something."

Naruto had finished his food by then, as there wasn't much to eat. Which left him with the wine.

"What will you do now?" He asked.

"Travel, where is the nearest town?"

"there's a road down that path, take a left and you should arrive in a couple of hours."

"Thank you," Naruto replied. "If I gave you some of these coins, would you be able to give a pack and some supplies?"

"What'd you like?"

"Just a blanket, a little bit of food and a flask for water."

He had a pocketful of coins in this dream; it could be as bottomless as he wanted it. He didn't though, he counted the amount and made sure it was all he had. Pieces of silver and gold. The man took several and went inside.

Naruto sipped on his drink and waited. It wasn't long until the man returned with the items.

"Thank you very much," he replied.

The man nodded, helping himself to another cup of wine. "You're leaving right now?"

"I have something important to do," The man nodded, he was of few words. It was for the best.

When Naruto began his trek toward the town, he realized he forgot to give the man a name. He would get better. He had all the time in the world, even though it wasn't his.

Sometimes, he couldn't sleep. Often, he would stare above him; whether it was the starry sky, or the canopy of trees or anything at all. It was in these times his mind would wander freely. Despite his attempts to focus on doing this action or that objective.

Now, he saw darkness and nothing else, and no matter which way he looked it was all he saw. There was nothing to see, and felt like it invaded his senses. His ears rung in the silence. This was an anomaly.

There were moments, when he imagined _her_ appearing again. Through some fashion when the world bent to her will and change and twist. All the laws he created were made null.

Sometimes, he wondered if that's how she saw the real world. The rules didn't apply to her, instead, they conformed and complied. It was how she expected things to work. He wasn't certain about that, it was only his own thoughts.

Even in this fake world, he needed things to be as similar as to the reality where he still stared at the woman holding him by the neck.

His heart sped at the thought of her appearance. The pervading darkness was unnatural. Yet, that subsided because his mind was free.

He expected her to appear, and he felt the presence. He did not want her here. It would be so easy for her to ignore; to break the mold and reveal herself.

Yet, his vision returned, or all light returned to the earth. He wasn't sure which one it was, if she skirted the edges of his senses or he deluded himself.

He tossed and turned in the simple blanket. It was still dark, the moon shone brightly. The silver rays piercing through the trees.

Time was an important thing. That was one thing he couldn't control whether the sun rose or dipped. He always held doubts, that she manipulated his sense of time. He wouldn't be surprised if somewhere down the line near the end, she would say he wasn't halfway just yet. It was expected, and he wasn't sure if he could ever survive if she deceived him. Sometimes, he wasn't certain how often he thought this, if it was the first or the hundredth time.

Naruto stood and decided to create a fire for himself. He wouldn't get to sleep tonight.

He stared into the whipping red tendrils, crackling and snapping. Fire was important, it drove away the creatures of the night and the darkness itself. There was plenty of firewood to last until daybreak.

He yawned and ate dry bread, it was tough to swallow without a little liquid to flush it down. Naruto leaned back, and stared at the stars for a long while.

He heard the steps first. The dirt crunching beneath his visitor's feet. It wasn't a person at all. No, this visitor was a wolf, large and beastly.

"Hello there," he said. Of course, the beast didn't reply. It stared with intelligent eyes.

With slow movements, he searched for a pouch and dug out a piece of salted jerky. He held it out to the wolf and waited. It stalked toward him, it's mouth inching toward his hand and grabbed the piece of meat.

It ate loudly, and sloppily.

"You know I have more in this pouch, right?" he smiled, "If you stick around, maybe I'll give you more."


	5. It takes a while to settle down

At first, he thought it was the early morning fog that crawled through the brushes and trees. Though, he was quick to fix that thought once he breathed it in. The tinges of smoke were poison to his lungs. He covered his mouth with a cloth and pressed on.

It was no wonder why the air had strange odor.

The further he walked through the littered path, the darker the smoke grew. A foul smell hit him, and he crinkled his nose. The harsh smoke began to water his eyes, but he didn't want to turn away.

Other than the smoke that flowed around his movements, it kept a ghastly pace, unbroken and undirected by wind. It began to thicken, and he was forced to blow it away with a gust of wind when he could no longer stand it.

He looked behind him, but he saw no trace of the wolf. It had disappeared last night after a couple more treats. Beggar, he thought.

The foliage dispersed that turned into a wide valley. Grey clouds hung in the sky, the wind was free, casting wild twirls of smoke. In the valley below, he saw the remnants of a village. There was a small castle in sight, and others smaller wooden buildings. Many were torn down in heaps and cloaked in smoke. Not a soul in sight.

He climbed down a winding worn path. Ash bellowed, sticking to grass and his own clothing. He reached the bottom and moved close. There was an entrance with a broken gate; splintered and littered with arrows.

On the other side of the gate, bodies littered the ground covered in mud and blood. A crow eyed him, fluttering its wings in nervousness.

He wandered through the remnants of the village. There were no fires, only burnt foundations and glowing embers.

The simple paths led him toward the small castle, a moat built around it with its castle bridge raised.

"Wanderer!" someone called from the castle. They weren't visible until they peered between two columns. Others appeared along the wall, weapons at the ready. "What brings a stranger to a raided village?"

He was armored in similar fashion to the first two Hokage, or the samurai in the Land of Iron. "A hunter by the sea helped me, and pointed me here,"

"One of the hunters? Tell me, what was his name?"

He frowned. He didn't have that information, "We didn't share our names,"

"Convenient," someone above shouted.

"Nonetheless," the leader said. "You didn't steal from the dead, nor the houses. I will be inclined to believe you. If you're lying, then I'll hunt you down myself."

"uhm, sure."

"Still, I must ask you to leave. We're in no position to accept anyone," He felt disheartened, but nodded all the same. "watch for the roads, it is not safe for travel in these times."

Yet he was being turned away. It was an easy way to find his way out, and he didn't bother to look back. He stood outside the gate for a while.

He didn't have much supplies, as he intended to refill here. Now he would have to wait until the next town, but he didn't know where or when that would be. So, he did what he could only do, walk the only worn road.

* * *

The only time he stopped was when he saw the stranger on the road. At first, he thought they carried a staff, but the blade at the end put that thought to an end.

When he got closer, he realized it was a woman. She was dressed in light leather armor. She looked at him with suspicion.

"So, what's a lone stranger walking unarmed in a time like this?"

"Why is an armed one standing in my way?" he asked.

"It's my walking stick," she replied. "I can hit people with it too, I guess."

Her hair was white, but short, it did not go past her shoulders. Her eyes were blue, prominent with her pale features.

"I suppose it doesn't matter, you don't have them" she continued. "and I'm not alone,"

There was something behind him, and when he looked he found that it was the wolf from last night. It paid little attention to him other than passing by to sit behind the woman.

"Not of their scent," it said. "like stupid friendly meat bag, but stranger,"

He blinked, "I didn't know you could talk,"

"He likes you," the woman said.

"It insulted me,"

"He didn't eat you, didn't he?" she retorted, "That means something."

"Yeah, it means I'm not dead."

He heard the light patter of rain. He looked above, seeing the droplets falling from the dark clouds. It was a light rain, but it might get harsher.

"I have a camp nearby, come or don't, " she turned away and got off the road.

"Just like that? You were kinda not so friendly just earlier,"

"I trust Oogran's word enough," A sideways glance before she continued into the bushes. Oogran, the wolf followed closely behind without sparing another glance. It was an invitation. It wasn't exactly one he could deny.

So, he followed them. It was a short, but crowded walk through the bushes. There didn't seem any clear trail other than what they left behind. The smell of cooking food was a pleasant change from smoke.

They arrived in a particularly flat area, covered by the rain above, a cooking pot hung over a warm fire, in the corner was a cloth draped over a makeshift cover made from branches.

The woman placed her weapon by a bag, "my name is Altisi. Yeah, yeah, foreign name, get over it."

"Naruto," he replied.

"Warm and dry, useful." The wolf interrupted. It laid down on a bed of pine before closing its eyes.

The woman was seated on a large rock, stirring the pot with a spoon. "You do know that you're following in the footsteps of an army?"

"I kind of guessed that from the road,"

"So why? It's not really safe," Altisi said. She seemed satisfied with her food and brought out a bowl.

"I'm very lost," he replied. "I don't even know where I am, or even what this country is named."

"People don't show up outta nowhere," she replied. He was handed the bowl and spoon.

he thanked her, and took a bite from the soup. It was a little too salty, but it was hot food. Then he explained on how he got to be here.

"Huh," she said. "That'll do it."

Naruto recalled there was no other road but the one he walked. "You said that 'I didn't have them' what did that mean?"

She was silent for a while, staring at falling drips from a nearby branch. She had finished her food and began to take off her leather armor. "These dark blades, Obsidian Order, they're the ones who attacked that village the other day,"

"Oh, why?"

She snorted, "War, obviously. You really don't know this place, do you?" he shook his head, "It's all the same thing really, this one hates that one, this one wants this thing, this one been slighted, so they fight."

"Oh," he replied. She seemed awfully vague.

"look, I barely know this place better than you do. You think I'm gonna remember all these places names?"

"Right, but you seem to know this Order though,"

Altisi shrugged, "They took something from me, I want it back. Now clean that bowl, would you?"

He did as she asked and returned it. She got under her little shelter and leaned against the large grey wolf. "Why did you help me?"

"Everyone here hates outsiders, I haven't had a talk with anyone in ages," she patted the wolf like a lap dog. "Just because he can talk doesn't mean he wants too. You couldn't have been too bad if he hadn't ripped you apart,"

He frowned, "I feel so relieved,"

She chuckled, "You didn't seem so worried when we met on the road, what can you do?"

"I'm a ninja," he replied. "I can do a lot of things without a weapon, in fact I mostly prefer it."

She hummed. "A ninja huh? I heard about them, there isn't a whole lot left around these parts."

"Is that right?" Naruto said. He looked out into the bushes, the sky seemed to grow darker by the minute.

Altisi yawned, and wrapped her cloak around her, "The nearest town is a couple days away on this road, so we'll be going the same way if the order goes there. Might as well I'd say,"

He got the meaning well enough, "Might as well,"

They were locked in eternity. Blades and beasts sheathed in blood. Howls and wails echoing in the hills. The land was painted dark blood, and coated with bodies.

There was no town in sight, given, as it was supposed to be a whole other day until they reached it. Altisi peered intensely at the battleground, while Oogran sniffed the air.

"No use, I can't make out anything, how about you? See any of those blades I mentioned?" Altisi said. Naruto looked at her, and she shrugged. "I was just wondering, maybe you had good sight being a ninja and all,"

Down below was a mess, he couldn't see their blades much less their faces. No banners belonged to them either, only belonging to one army or another.

"We should get a closer look, find them."

"Down there?" he asked incredulously.

"It's not like we're gonna join," she replied. He couldn't protest because she already went off.

Oogran growled, but he wasn't sure why. "A good smell, there will be no hunger tonight."

Now he knew, "That's fucked up," The wolf paid no attention and bounded after the woman.

He sighed. There would no doubt be a lot of stragglers breaking off from the main army. It would be safer if they were together.

Yet, when he took a step, he felt it. This illusion broke.

Everything turned backward. Fallen men returned to their feet with their wounds healed, the fires died, and the battlefield left like it was untouched. Until it was two armies facing each other down on a large field.

Then they charged at one another once again.

Maybe he could use some work with this, but he didn't exactly have anyone to see if it was good enough. His late mentor was a writer, he could have been a lot of help. What he could do was wait for her.

"Do you thirst for things such as this?"

A shiver. He crossed his arms and looked below. "No,"

"Then why?" she asked inquisitively.

He stayed silent, but she was still there. The armies clashed once more.

"I've had a lot of time to think," he said. "This happens, and even if I ever get the chance to stop the fighting, it might happen again."

Kaguya hummed, "This was endless when I first arrived. It was a bother, so I put an end to it."

He knew the story, she ate a fruit of the God Tree, then all the fighting stopped. The Rabbit Goddess, they all called her.

He felt air blow out from his nose, amused. "You make it sound easy,"

Naruto didn't mean to spare a glance. Even as she stood there, she felt otherworldly, and that didn't seem so far-fetched.

"It was," Kaguya replied. "None of you had power as you did now. They resisted, of course, but not quite like you,"

"I would hope so," He forced himself to turn away.

"You can will anything to be true, yet you choose this?"

Naruto looked to Kaguya, her eyes narrowed at the destruction below.

Lose or lose. It would end one way or another. Lose a little less perhaps. Dust or death. They could not seal Kaguya should he fall. Though, perhaps…

"How is it for you? Do you watch my every moment? Does time pass the same as mine, every minute a minute or does it feel faster for you?"

"Answer," she said.

The warriors below were slow, like through water. The blood spurted through the air, almost freezing in place.

"This happens, it's true to us," he replied. "Maybe it's just a part of us, I dunno, but there's still good despite it all. Love I mean –I guess,"

He stole a glance, but she remained unchanging. Her expressions always remained the same. He wondered if she was always like that. Yet, he reflected on his time here and he didn't feel quite as whole.

"How strange," she answered. Then she left.

What made her like that?


	6. Terrible Love

"Where is your 'true' realm? You spoke so highly of it,"

It was a strange thought that popped to mind; that this was the first time a woman was in his room. The other being that she had never visited so soon after she left. Another, that he was happy about it.

She walked about, staring at different pieces of furniture. Her long hair and dress dragged along the floor. How did it get so long? He angled his chair toward her, the paper being forgotten.

"I thought you would have preferred it," she added.

"Even if I do, I can't manage it all the time. It's weird isn't it? It's not real, it's just my imagination and that takes a lot of effort. I just use this place to map it out. Also, I've been really distracted by my thoughts,"

All that time he talked, she listened. Kaguya had stared out a window at passing pedestrians.

"Because these places I created isn't yours, do they feel as real as the real world?"

"There's little difference,"

He had an idea that it wasn't. "For now, I think yours and the real one would be just as great right now,"

"Then you relent?"

"whoa, I mean, I don't blame you for that one," he said. She narrowed her eyes, and it not in the kind of way that said she was annoyed that her fatal strike didn't kill him. She titled her head, it was almost unnoticeable. "The big word is 'right now' that doesn't mean include the regret I'd feel right after,"

She turned back to staring out the window. He had been preoccupied, so he hadn't returned to the previous world.

"You know, it's crazy how a hundred years have gone away. I had time to think about many things. I can say that I'm prepared to fail. It took me a long time to come to terms with it,"

She said nothing.

"I guess what I'm getting at, Kaguya, are you prepared to fail?"

Naruto couldn't help but smile when her features contorted into rage. Anger was an easy emotion, not even a goddess was immune. He couldn't help but keep pushing, away from this dispassion.

"It's like a whisper in the back of your head, you don't even realize it's not even your voice, but it didn't matter. Kurama did that to me, encouraging my rage and pain. It felt good, I could do so many things," Naruto closed his eyes and recalled all those times he took power. "Did the ten-tails do that to you too?"

He stared into her white eyes, noticing every detail, if any emotion would surface. Her brow creased, a flare alit within them that sent his heart racing.

She left.

* * *

His limbs couldn't stop shaking as he climbed down the rocky cliffs. He shivered, and it trailed down his back. His palms felt clammy, he couldn't grip anything on the wet rocks. He could hear the sounds and drums of war, even if he couldn't see them anymore.

He couldn't wait for her next visit.

Then he remembered he didn't need to grip anything. He leapt off the small cliff and nearing the mouth of the forest.

"There you are," Altisi muttered. He was taken out of his thoughts. "I thought you might've been a coward,"

She stood beside her companion, it's wolf eyes curious.

"No," he replied. He felt breathless, "In fact, I'm kinda looking forward to this,"

She smiled, "Good, because I was wondering what I should do if I came across a ninja. If it's anything like back home, ninja are trump cards."

Altisi nodded at Oogran, and it bounded off. She followed the wolf with him in tow.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked. A pace was set, not quite running, not quite walking. They crept forward through a wild game trail, kept close to steep rocky hill.

"There's not many of you around anymore, and you're highly sought after because you change the battlefield. You can imagine the tactics,"

"Right, I haven't really thought of a war that don't have shinobi," The fighting didn't seem to get any louder despite that they've gotten closer, perhaps it was hill. "How do you know about this?"

She frowned, "I was a captain, once,"

It was all she shared, but she wanted something to do with Obsidian Order. He wondered what it might be, if she was willing to go through a warzone to reach them.

He almost tripped, and the others looked behind in worry.

His limbs felt shackled, weighted. He resisted, trying to free them. Every second they grew heavier and he fell to his knees.

The world froze, and he looked around, trying to find her. He found himself staying into her eyes, her hand under his chin and her long, sharp nails digging into his cheeks.

"My will was my own,"

He smiled, but it was not in mockery, "Are you sure? You did leave, for a moment, you doubted yourself,"

"So defiant, will it be to the bitter end?" she snarled.

He had to laugh. Everything he felt, how heavy his heart beat, his finder tips might as well be flayed. Her breathes that trailed down his throat sent goose bumps throughout his body. How those white eyes were afire with rage.

"So, you do feel some emotion after all?" Her hand tightened, making him uncomfortable. "I'm not sure if I even imagined this or not, but someone said I could piss off anyone. Go on, make me right,"

"You think you're clever," Kaguya said. "All the answers and solutions have come to you,"

She squeezed one last time, lifted him, and threw him away. The world went dark, he couldn't even see his nose, or anything in front of him.

"You could have killed me long ago, but this is the last chance for my chakra. How would you even accomplish that? You expect me to do your bidding? To lay still and let you have me?"

Her voice was everywhere, but he couldn't see her, "Subjugate, _Waboonttha_ Repeat, and you follow my commands,"

His felt it, something instinctive in the corner of his mind. It sounded ridiculous, however, dare as he might try to say it, he shouldn't. "You never brought this up, never said it for a chance for me to say it,"

Kaguya appeared then, like an angel in the darkness. "One with knowledge of it?"

That instinctive feeling was fear, or perhaps a sense of a danger. He kinda forgot about what he could do back in the real world. He understood all chakra. "I'll never say it,"

"We shall see. You will either die, or give in."

"You forgot a third choice, I get out," he replied. "Yeah, it's a tiny chance, but I'm kind of liking those odds,"

She narrowed her eyes in this darkness, where it was only her in view. She scoffed, "Another millennium,"

He gritted his teeth, it's been two hundred years; she added more. Somehow, he didn't quite mind it. This woman, who made his heart flutter and filled it with dread at the same time. The fire in his heart cooled down.

"You know, I noticed something. After all this time, you never once tortured me, why's that?"

"Why should I?"

He wondered if he was dreaming, but was that disgust? Did she detest violence? He recalled the time he had been stabbed with her all-killing ash bone. He had remembered the pure panic, but it was relatively painless. If she felt rage and disgust, could there be others?

"You're willing to wait that long?" that was crazy.

"I will," she replied. "Yet, I have learned as well,"

The world began to brighten, and he fell to his knees again. His limbs were locked, like earlier. He looked directly into her eyes, but he didn't know what she was possibly planning. His surroundings to started to change, flashing one place to the next.

"No one is without fear," she said.

All he could ask himself is what did she fear? Around him, it turned from one memory to the next. People and locations that he knew, those real, and things he created inside.

"What are you doing?" He was shaking so badly, it hurt. His heart trembled, but he felt the excitement in his bones. This was something out of his control, that he didn't have to manually pivot and manipulate.

The world appeared to be like home, a familiar moon hung in the sky. Around him, he recognized everyone he knew in the real world. They almost felt tangible, if he spoke to them would they reply? It would be almost as good as the real thing. Those trapped in a dream, of everything they all wished to come true.

"No longer,"

Bathed in silver moonlight, she swept her hand and they turned to dust. Everything, the world, the moon, even her. It came to him then.

She was his terrible love.


	7. It takes an ocean not to break

There was no sun, there was no moon. He wasn't even certain how many years had passed. In fact, it could have been days for all he knew. There was him and this void. _She_ also made no appearance.

What was one to do in such a place? All he could do was wait and think. Be lone for all time.

Naruto thought of his story that he just started, and never got to finish. He had thought a lot about it, even before Kaguya relinquished the power she granted in this dreamworld.

For now, his thoughts didn't seem to carry well with his imagination. Writing it down seemed to work best, imagination was more fluid and directed. Then, he visualized it, acted it out. Now, all he could ever think was in summaries; the landscape and people were shaky, each voice uncertain and repeating, the emotion was missing.

If he got out of here, he wouldn't mind writing it down. It was going to be tale of revenge, of avoiding war and all the silly politics of sending people to die. A personal. It sounded so lame if he had to put it in the summary.

What was he to do?

Naruto thought a lot about Kaguya. What he knew about her, and those he can find out. Everything she said repeated in his head.

What was he to do?

He yelled his heart out. Screaming into the abyss, but there no sound that echoed in the world. It was consumed, drowned, and erased everything he threw at it.

What did she learn? Loneliness was something he never wanted to return too.

All he could do was stir in his thoughts. She was listening, she was always watching.

"Tell me, Kaguya, you're someone, you must fear something in world?" he asked. There was no response, and he repeated it again. Over and over. He might as well annoy the hell out of her until she could take it no longer.

He said a great deal many things. He might've yelled for days or years.

"Tell me Kaguya, with absolute certainty, can you tell me that the ten tails made you into a husk, doing nothing more than follow its bidding? I remember the feeling, the raw hunger it carried, nothing more than an instinct, a need to gather chakra. To be full and whole, and you wanna know what it was? A stupid creature, like a little fucking insect. Is that what you are?"

There was a grasp around his neck, choking him. Furious eyes bored into him, "I am no such thing! How petulant you are,"

"I don't even know the meaning of the word, "he grinned, "Hit a nerve? I told you I was good at pissing people off!"

There was something strange about all this. He felt a vertigo, and he didn't quite understand why he felt that way.

New images came to life. It took a moment to adjust the prospect of up and down existing again. The surroundings of mountains and forests he couldn't recognize. There was the god tree in the distance, the sun behind its visage that casted it's great silhouette across the land.

Then, there was smoke that clouded horizon. A great haze that blanketed the world as far as he can see. It was a land of ash and soot; the world had been set a light.

The warmth of the sun that fell on his face. The cool wind that brushed between his fingers. How the clouds that swept over him made his clothes wet. She crafted detail that he couldn't manage, or that it felt so new he couldn't tell the difference.

Plumes of smoke littered the land, rising into the air that he couldn't tell apart from clouds/. Down below, the remnants of a battle long past. He could smell the death and decay, he could even taste it. It made him uneasy.

"All that war, never ending, and what of now? It has never stopped, a need to kill, it had never changed with you all. Like insects, as you accuse of me. So, all of you might as well be of final use,"

"A goddess, aren't you? You get to choose who dies, which is everyone. How did you ever come to deciding like that? One day, you crawled out of bed, and decided, 'welp I'm gonna fucking kill everything,' God! You piss me off, I think we can share that title, champions of our category,"

"Quiet,"

His mouth disappeared, and he made no noise. What the fuck. Maybe he could make sign language. Shit, if only he knew sign language.

His mouth reappeared, thank her. "Do that again and I win,"

"How so?"

"I get the moral victory duh! You're afraid of what I have to say,"

"Fear you?" her eyes alit with amusement and laughed. It was the single most wonderful sound he had ever heard. He wouldn't mind hearing more.

"Yeah," he smiled. "look at you, laughing, too bad it was totally creepy, and in no way I was trying to be funny,"

"I have no reason to fear you. Anything you say, is worthless."

Yet here she stood, talking, listening.

He would win either way, but he wouldn't want to shut up forever, "You said so yourself, and just like how we're filled with hate, there is no one without fear. Kaguya, you can't be your own person if you don't fear anything,"

She didn't answer, "Once again, you found your mettle,"

It's because of you, he wanted to say. He kept his mouth shut, it was the strangest thing to ever think. How sad. Once, it had been his friends that kept him going. To accomplish a goal that had bequeathed to him. Now, what fueled him was when she visited. All in order to survive.

For now, he's greatest strength was Kaguya, and she would leave him if she found out. Death was better than loneliness.

"Yeah," he smiled. There was another reason too. "I'm guessing this is how the ten tails managed to get to you, during all those years, it slowly withered your resolve into nothing,"

"The only realization that occurred when I held the ten tails was that it's power wasn't sufficient,"

The goddess did fear something after all, under all that concealed emotion. She had said she arrived here, so there were others like her. Did she fear them? Were there other stronger beings than her?

"The Ten Tails preyed on that fear,"

Again, she ignored him. Whatever it was, there was no flash of anger. It seemed, that she also had gathered her resolve.

She stepped close, her hand resting on his cheek. He was shocked at the contact, the intense warmth of her hand. "If you were to pursue longevity, such emotion would not pair well with it,"

"Longevity? Why would I want such a thing?"

"Peace, how should you ever keep it?"

He sighed, "Why do we keeping singing this same song and dance?"

"It will not last,"

He understood people better than her.

"Emotion was what made me strong in the first place," he replied. "Not just love. My anger, my fear, and sadness are what got me here in the first place. If I was anything like you are now, I would have died long ago,"

She had left again. It kept him going until the next time she appeared.

It took a while to register that Kaguya was here in the flesh. How long had she stood there? She stared down on him and said nothing. He couldn't even come up with anything to say, all he could do is stare in wonder.

"Only a century has passed, can you do another nine?"

His heart dropped. No, he couldn't it, was his first thought. These doubts had always come to him, when he had been young, when he was training. He had always opted to ignore it, he wanted to prove it wrong.

He fantasized about giving up. He already knew the word, even thinking about it seemed dangerous. _Waboonttha._ It had never left his mind once it came from her lips. It dangled in front him, like his favorite food, and little taste and it would be bliss.

If he were to say it, would there be a spark of happiness in her eyes? It was tempting to see, that perhaps, that would be his last sight. He almost cried at the thought. Yeah, she would be happy or maybe not. Other thoughts appeared, each more tantalizing than the last.

He moved his lips, as if to tempt it.

There was something in the distance. He felt it, something foreign and familiar altogether. Something he hadn't felt in a time before he was trapped in here. His gut tingled, the return of a long-lost power.

He felt another shockwave coursing through this darkness.

"Kurama," he whispered.

He sat up, reveling in the feel of his partner. Kurama was trying to break through this illusion to free him. How long had passed in the real world? Seconds? Minutes?

He stared at Kaguya, his opponent, his love. Her relaxed composure was replaced by a wariness, guarded against the surges to keep him within the illusion. He knew that even with Kurama's might, he wouldn't be able to break through.

Right now, at least. She was too prepared.

"I want to know something, Kaguya," he replied. He felt disembodied. Another surge of power, and he felt like he could go on. "Is this how you developed the Infinite Tsukiyomi? For one person, then, you made it better?"

She didn't have to say anything for him to know the answer. The look in her eye said all.

His lips twitched into a smile, "In a morbid way, it's sweet of you. To take the time to make a person's dream come true before they die. As fake as it is, I would have liked to have known you before you were changed by the ten tails,"

Kaguya's eyes narrowed, and he could say the visible confusion present within them. She disappeared again.

He laid down, trying to refamiliarize with Kurama's chakra. He felt traces of it, hanging in the air. There were no more no surges, but he knew it would only be some time until the next one.

Naruto felt the tingling in his tips of his fingers. The anticipations that rolled off him in waves. He knew it, this was the beginning of the end.

Kurama must have only realized that he had been ensnared within her technique. He wouldn't give up so easily. Three surges had reverberated through the illusion, but how much time would pass until the next attempt? There was no sense of time, no sun or clock. Those had been taken away.

It was a good thing he had a lot of time to think about it. Finally, something of worth, something of progress. He had one try, and only that.

His heart beat was something that Kaguya couldn't take away. He counted the beats of his heart, filtered by minute, by hour, by day, week and month. Now, he had the general time frame.

It was about another fifty years before he felt the next surges of Kurama's chakra exploding through. Now, he had to have the perfect heartbeat. He had gotten better with multitasking when he was brought here, with all his attempts to breathe the world to life.

Another fifty years, and he had it down to the second, but he had to make certain, so another fifty years had passed.

Something had to go wrong along the way, and it had been something he had thought about.

She materialized out of from the darkness, with long ashen hair that flowed behind her, her white eyes centered on him. His mind emptied, and his heart started to race. Progress broken, and now he had to account for her appearance. He counted his beats, and it raced twice as fast, and the odd skip.

"Has your answer changed?"

Did she refer to their first conversation? That was a fucking long time ago, "Well I gotta give it to you, no one can stay the same for hundreds of years,"

She was pleased, a slight tug at her lips.

He loved the sight. "Who knows, the end will tell it all. I think that's one thing we got in common, we're both certain that we'll succeed,"

"One of us will fail,"

"The other will win," he finished. He tried to focus, to calm himself as much as he could. "I'll prove to you, that I will last. Such as moments as these, he had to question his sanity. Was that a hint of admiration in her eyes, or was it his yearning to see something like that?

Naruto continued, "My mother once said something to me, about being a Jinchuuriki. I wish someone told you that, so none of this would have happened?"

She looked wary, "That is?"

He was almost let it loose from his lips. "Later, maybe at the end,"

"It can be the end now,"

"Later," he replied. Perhaps he would never know, or she would ever admit that the ten tails influenced her. In the end, it was pure desire on his part to know that she was once human. "I don't think you'd have to build an army, you're strong enough on your own, or maybe just someone to help out,"

"There's no one,"

There was him.


	8. I won't follow you into the rabbit hole

"Remember that one time, when I showed you the history of the shinobi?"

She was almost impassive, but there was a twitch of her brow, and her eyes flashed with annoyance. Nothing other than that.

"What do you think of that?" He asked.

"To create something as that, is an abomination,"

He grinned, "Well, it still got you didn't it?"

She didn't look at him, "Ridiculous, and I don't need to explain myself to you. It matters little,"

"Because I'm going to die right? What use do I have for it? Well, what's the use of anything? If that's the case, then you can explain it to me,"

She didn't though, she left.

Not that it was time just yet. That was still years down the line, but the final stretch was the longest yet. His heart beat returned to normal, and he accounted for that time.

Still, this last and only plan of his depended on her. That she would be interested in hearing him out. If she didn't come to him within several minutes, then he would have to wait another time.

He forgotten how much time he had left, and how long he had been here. Now, all there was left to do was look to the future.

Yet, what did that hold for him? He hardly given it any thought, because previously, all that awaited him was death and vain hope of escaping. Now it was slim, but it was far better.

The only thoughts that came to him was that one of them will lose, and one of them will win. To give in to her was to prove that she was right. Failure wasn't an option.

He looked at his hands, they trembled, and his stomach twisted until he could no longer bare to look. He grasped at his heart, and it felt dull and heavy within his chest.

Something wet fell from his cheeks, and a choked sob escaped from him. Was this how it felt then? He couldn't bare to go on without her, it wasn't something he wanted. That was always something he lived by, that he lived only by his friends, and never for himself.

So, he waited, until the beat of heart neared for the end.

"Kaguya," he said. The name slipped out of his lips easily, "You want to know that answer? of what my mother said?"

He wondered if he waited a long while, but it was only several beats of his heart.

She appeared the same as the other times. Like a ghost that appeared in the darkness, but she was brightest thing in the abyss.

"I'm not interested in worthless information,"

Then why did she appear? And why did the first around did she ask to continue. No one was capable of being alone, that was impossible.

"I'll tell you anyway," she looked disinterested, but that was nothing different. "My mother once said, that it was love that kept the tailed beast sealed within us. The love we had for our village, our people, and friends,"

"Is that so?" her eyes narrowed.

"Perhaps if you focused on what you could've protected most, rather than what you feared, you wouldn't be as you are today,"

"Foolish,"

"What's foolish? That you're so caught up in one way, that another one is unspeakable? Better yet, why look one way, when you can look at both?"

She narrowed her eyes, and it was piercing. She didn't speak, so he continued.

"I'm that other way," he stated.

"Can you truly say that?" she asked. "The fear of what will happen to your bonds that continually made you defy me, that is what you fueled you,"

He smiled, "You would be right, but only for a time. I've made a vow, that I would last, and that I would prove to you and whatever these other ones you're afraid of, that the Tentails and some clone army wouldn't be needed,"

"Answer," she demanded.

"So I will," he replied. "Kaguya, I've made a vow to you. The reason I'm still here, is to prove that love wins, and gives you the strength needed to go on, and I can do this forever. Love did that, and I've been defiant all this time. The reason I can do that, is because I love you, I would have given up long ago if it weren't for you."

It was like she froze, for that one moment. Her eyes widened in shock, clear written surprise. If he had to choose a moment to relive forever, it might be this one. Then, it came. Kurama's chakra came exploding forward, a massive wave that Naruto had to sync with the initial impact.

Naruto brought his hands together and put everything he could possibly could into it. Everything, all he had and more, he put in to break this illusion. To return to the real world, and to live and breathe and see light. To see her in the flesh and prove her wrong and his way was right and far better.

She realized her folly, the brief lapse of concentration, but she was too late.

All he could think of was her reaction, what she might've been before the corruption of the Ten Tails. He would have loved to have known that person. If there was any chance to bring for that to happen, then this must end.

The world cracked, shattered. It was like a glass, and he burst through.

He gasped when the air filled his lungs, alien and cold. Her grasp around his neck was warm and tight. She flinched in the real world, her grip loosened around his neck. He struck at her arm, and her fingers came loose. Yet, he already felt the danger of her all-killing ash-bone. He barely managed to avoid it, as he felt the danger pass by the hair of his neck.

He jumped away a safe distance and kept a careful eye. There was a noticeable dip in her chakra, as endless as it seemed at first. How much chakra did that use? Nothing else mattered, there was only her.

It was only a passing thought. The forefront of his mind was other things about her, and about now. This was going too well? A fantasy, that all of this was another illusion.

The air was different, far from the one he made his own within the technique. It was like the one she made for him.

"Naruto, are you okay?" a voice asked. He didn't even recognize the voice, and the name was barely on his lips. Within his soul, confined within the seal, the fox stared.

"Kurama?" another voice that he didn't control. "Is this real?"

"Of course, it is! How long were you in there?" Kurama said. "Your chakra, it's different, I can tell,"

He grinned, in reassurance to Kurama. Although, it was an expected response. Of course there would be a reassurance that everything was real. "Yeah, and, I've been there for a long while,"

"Can you go on?"

"Is there even a choice?" he asked. "Either way, I don't plan on losing, if that's what you're worried about,"

Outside, some distance away from Kaguya. Naruto fell to his knee, but he couldn't relax too much. Getting out of that technique took a lot out of him. Though, Kaguya hadn't moved either. The slight movement of her shoulders, and the rise and fall of her chest; it took something out of her too.

Naruto sensed several others that approached from behind. He knew that they weren't enemies, and he just remembered that were others here. He couldn't put their voices he couldn't even put to their faces.

"I noticed your chakra was disrupted, but it looks like you're okay,"

"Can you go on?"

"There's no time to talk," Sasuke said. "We must focus on the enemy, on my lead,"

Naruto utilized Kurama's chakra and he was as ready as he could ever be. He rose, and he stared at Kaguya who had readied herself too.

"Let's go," Sasuke said.

He didn't quite know how long it lasted. It felt so short, each attack deflected or nullified. It felt so short, he was used to years of idleness. Everything felt so insignificant, and he couldn't help those feelings because it came natural like breathing. His perception of time was skewed, and he still didn't quite believe that he was in the real world. Was this reality? The only thing he knew for certain, Kaguya was real.

He thought of a solution, and there were so few.

Naruto wouldn't fail, fake or otherwise. It was only at the end, when he realized which reality that he was in. Her hand pointed at him, a flash of bone, and he resisted moving. Only when he had the sealing technique applied on Kaguya.

He felt it pierce him. It was like a needle, a small sharp sting. His senses screamed at him, but he calmed it down. Kaguya didn't know how it felt to be hit by her All-Killing Ash Bone.

"Well, it was real all along," he muttered. He couldn't help but laugh. This wasn't a paradise. It shouldn't have come to this.

Kaguya's formed into a look a pure shock, and she trembled at the effects of the sealing. He wished he knew her thoughts, that he didn't have to go on by his guesses.

He felt the tears that fell, and they tickled his cheeks as they trickled down. He could at least do one last thing. "Well, I win,"

"You fool," Kaguya said. Her mouth moved, but he couldn't hear her.

He can finally sleep.

* * *

He wasn't sure whether he should proceed. Something kept him here, but another drew him away. A sense of warmth, and a shade of cold. To move forward, or to stay forever.

Perhaps, what felt like lifetimes and lifetimes ago, he would have hated that fact. That he was gone forever from the living and left here. Yet, as time never halted, there was change. He died, and he was okay with it.

Naruto waited. For what, he didn't quite know, but he stood and waited. Like when he was in the gaping abyss, there was nothing here. He was used to it.

Of course, he remembered what he had done right before he died. So there was other thing that kept him here, that he was drawn too like a moth to flame. Kaguya. She sat, her dress and hair that spread over the ground that didn't exist. An empty space.

"A fool, with a foolish promise," she muttered.

"The fool who was right," he replied. "does that even make sense?"

The person who killed him. The person he loved. Such a terrible one. Was love chosen? Or was just natural as breathing?

"Well, you lost,"

"Is that correct?" she replied. "I am immortal, after all,"

"It's so simple, a fool can understand it. You failed, but will you try again? Fail until you succeed, and it didn't work out this time,"

She shook her head, "Why did you come here?"

"Why shouldn't I?"

"This is not a place for you,"

He looked around the black, never ending dark. "This doesn't seem a place for you either,"

She didn't look at him, but she was angered. "Leave, go,"

Naruto looked around some more, once the call had been inviting, but it no longer seemed so. There, beyond this place between life and death, lay his mother and all those who had died. "And, why should I?"

"You are dead, and I am not," Kaguya looked at him then. "I will never die, so I can never leave,"

What a terrible curse. To never go beyond, to be here for all eternity.

"If you're sealed forever, then you're as good as dead. I don't think I'm going anywhere,"

Their only company was the dark, and each other, but he was used to this. He sat too, and he crossed his legs and relaxed. The weight fell off his shoulders. Did he choose to die? or was it something that he had to do to seal her away.

"You will leave," she said. "Perhaps today, perhaps the next,"

"In here? There is no today, or tomorrow," he replied. Like all those days in the darkness. "So, I'll be here forever,"

She looked at him but said nothing. Though, he knew there was a question.

"I like to think that true love lasts forever," he said.

"You would be wrong," she said, and for once, weakly. Or maybe that was his wish, and he imagined it. Man, he got fucked up during his time in her technique.

"I promise that I'll never leave," he said. "I did prove you wrong, didn't I?"

"No, you didn't, defeating those from my clan isn't possible anymore,"

"Then I guess I have to update my promise. A place without you, is not a place I'd be for long," he replied. Her eyes darted away.

"Perhaps you're correct, that the beast withered me away," she confessed. "Yet, I still do not care for all those humans,"

His lips trembled, and his voice felt coarse. He was crying a lot, these emotions felt powerful, far better than the hatred and frustration, and of feeling hopeless and alone,"Well, you have time to make it up, should we ever get out of here,"

"I have no desire to do so,"

"Not them," he said. "Make it up to me, for all these lonely centuries,"

He didn't want to be alone anymore.

Kaguya stared, almost pitiful. "You're reminding me of what love must have felt once,"

She said nothing else, but she closed her eyes and didn't move. For once, he felt happy.

* * *

 **A/N: It ain't done btw.**


	9. I can't fall asleep

He didn't feel whole.

The breath that flowed down to his lungs didn't feel needed. It was hollow, and unfulfilling.

The first thing he noticed that she wasn't nearby. Next was the feel of his skin, cracked, unnatural flakes of his skin that formed together. He wasn't alive, and he felt subdued. The other, was that there was someone in the room.

Kakashi, a name he hadn't heard in quite the long time. For a moment, he stared, before his eye fluttered away. A wave of emotion washed over them.

"I guess I'm back," Naruto muttered. Yet, he didn't want to be here, not without her at least.

"You are," Kakashi said. He leaned against the wall and sat on the floor. A hand rested on his knee, "We brought you back, because you're the only one who can stop Sasuke,"

Light filtered through the window, and it was so bright he thought there was nothing outside for a moment. Instead, it was the intense white of snow; flakes melted against the window; that was new.

"How long was I gone?" he asked.

"It's the first of December, it's been months since…"

The beginning of winter. He stared at his hands again, the knowledge of reanimation came to him. Whose body did they sacrifice to have him return? He didn't want to be here, but it seemed this world wasn't done with him yet.

Naruto walked over to the window and stared out. The black sclera that surrounded his blue eyes. Like his father that appeared in the world, reanimated under the same technique; like father like son.

His breath clouded the window, and he could feel it's chill when he brought his face closer. The wetness on his hand when he touched it, the squeak when he swiped down. There was ice that formed at the corners of the window.

Woah, how fascinating.

It reminded him when Kaguya brought him into her technique. Snow and ice. He realized it was his home village, not quite as he remembered it.

"What happened?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi didn't reply for a long moment. "You're different, I can tell,"

Naruto stared back at him, "Do you really want to know?" then again, Kakashi could probably guess as to what happened. He could see the question in his eye, _how long were you in there?_

His teacher looked away, "I'll explain what happened,"

So, he did. After the defeat of Kaguya, the Sage of Six Paths managed to return them to their realm. His father, Minato, was distraught to learn that he didn't survive the encounter. Once the Hokage were returned, after Sasuke had sealed the tailed beasts and hidden them away. Then, the five Kage, including Killer Bee were assassinated and the technique placed on the world was lifted.

He felt a weight in his heart over those that had been killed.

All dead. It was his fault, if he had lived, none of this wouldn't have happened. Tsunade, Gaara, A, and Killer Bee. The new world, under Sasuke's rule. The five nations had lived in fear, any new Kage were deposed by Sasuke, any large resistance leaders were wiped away.

If only he wasn't such an idiot that he got himself killed because he doubted he had been freed of his prison.

Now, he was here. Reanimated by Kakashi and the others, to help them in their time of need.

"I won't be able to stop him with how I am now," Naruto replied. He could easily be sealed away, and his power greatly handicapped by the reanimation, not to mention that Kurama wasn't with him anymore. Sasuke's proficiency with his Rinnegan likely improved.

Strange. He wasn't conscious when Kurama had been ripped out of him, the fox had always been a part of his life. Now, it was an empty seal.

Kakashi sighed, "That's being handled. Remember Lady Chiyo's technique?" Kakashi said. "Well, I managed to learn it from her brother. I wasn't able to protect you, and I'll happily trade my life for yours,"

He frowned, and grit his teeth together, "One for this, and now you?" The price had been paid.

"You'll be saving a lot more lives than two," Kakashi replied. "My life has always been filled with failures, at least with my death, I can say that I died doing something worthwhile,"

" I see," Naruto replied. He stared back at the village. Strange, he couldn't sense anything outside, nor Sasuke. There must be a seal placed to isolate that connection between them. Kakashi must have given this a lot of thought.

"The Nine-tailed Fox might revive soon, the one that had been sealed inside you. That is the only one that Sasuke hadn't managed to seal away. Unfortunately, we don't exactly know where, or when exactly. From previous reports, the revival can take from months, to some years. Nothing concrete,"

So, they revived him now in order to take advantage of it.

Yet another problem that presented itself. They stayed silent, and he was content to let it be. He needed solutions. It came to him after some time, it felt short.

Naruto turned to Kakashi, and he could feel the presence of his own, and Kurama's chakra within his teacher. That's right, he had given it off to the shinobi that participated in the war. All he needed was to meet someone who would spend their time outside this seal.

"That shouldn't be too much of a problem," Naruto replied. "There's only one more thing. We need to beat Sasuke to Kurama,"

If it formed within the dimension where he had perished, it would be for nothing.

His cheek twitched of a hint of a smile, but it left, there was only sadness in his eye. "We have several users of The Lightning Thunder God, former bodyguards of your father,"

Instant teleportation. "Yeah, that'll definitely work," they just always need to be outside for the moment.

Naruto crossed his arms and stared out the window again. He watched the white flakes that danced and fell over his home. Of course, his thoughts shifted to Kaguya. He missed her, and he couldn't help but think what happened. He had given her a portion of his chakra, perhaps that was the was the reason he felt hollow, or maybe Kaguya was just his other half.

How strange this all felt.

"Naruto?"

He flinched, it was Kakashi's voice, he still had to refamiliarize with his voice. Over time he spent in the illusion, he had forgotten everyone's voices. "Yeah?"

"I'll have to leave for the moment, unfortunately, you'll have to remain behind the structure of seals placed on this building, the rooms on this floor are open to you, but this –"

"is for Sasuke, yeah, I got that," he replied. "It's fine,"

He could pass the time easily, eventually though, he wanted to see Kaguya again. There was no light in this world without her.

Naruto watched his teacher leave, his sandals rung along the wooden floor, the doorknob that rattled as it clicked open the door. He could sense him, until the moment he disappeared.

He explored the area, it wasn't big but relatively spacious and the size of his old apartment. He found a large window in the living room. It was heavily tinted, and down in the snow-covered streets, it was empty and not a soul in sight.

Closed off, or perhaps the effects of a sealing.

He could wait here, for Kurama to return, and to confront Sasuke. After all, it wasn't long.

He thought of the upcoming confrontation with Sasuke, and the resolutions of that fight. No matter how it ended, he couldn't see a future that lasted much further beyond it. He could only think of possibilities of any decision he could make.

Later, Kakashi came in with several others. He didn't know who they were, but he guessed they were the ones who knew his father's technique.

"Sorry for taking so long to return, I had a few things to do after I left yesterday," Kakashi replied. Naruto could guess what it might be.

He didn't even realize it was the next day.

"It's alright,"

"These are Genma, Iwashi, and Raido. They know the variation of the Flying Thunder God,"

They all gave their hellos, they were wide-eyed.

"Hello," he replied. He held a fist out, "I just need to touch you, so when Kurama returns, you'll know the moment it happens,"

Each of them bumped fists with him.

Kakashi sighed, and had them leave the room. "It's best that you get no visitors, as to not risk letting out the information that you're alive and where you're kept. Even reviving you was information only a select few know of,"

"I understand, and I can handle it. It's only until Kurama revives anyway,"

They were silent, as Kakashi stared at him. Naruto watched his teacher perform the hand signs required for the technique.

"I know that you won't disappoint. All I can ask, is that you live the rest of your life as happily as you can,"

"I'll try," he replied. Kakashi placed a hand over his chest.

"I never did well with goodbyes," Kakashi replied. This didn't feel real, "Do whatever you think is right, Naruto,"

"Of course," he didn't know what to say. He hoped he could do that.

Naruto watched him slump over, he caught him before he could fall. "Kakashi," there was no response.

He swore under his breath. He already felt different, a stranger in his own body. Yet, that only brought clarity that his teacher was gone, a price to pay to return him from death.

He didn't quite remember the last time he saw so much red, to destroy those responsible. He took a breath, but his head still felt hazy. He struggled to think, to break through that mold of fogginess.

This was his fault. Once, in what was ages ago, he had suspicions about Sasuke's goals and he was ready to meet them when the war came to past. Now, it had come to fruition, whatever he had done. All because he couldn't discern between reality and illusion.

"Naruto?" one of them asked. A hand rested on his shoulder. "We have to take his body,"

"Okay," he replied. "How will you cover up his death?"

They looked at one another, they were hesitant to tell him.

"It's only temporary," Naruto said. Finally, they relented.

"Suicide, like his father,"

"I see," he replied. That wouldn't be the legacy he left behind.

Naruto watched as they took him away, they left behind the door he couldn't go through. He wanted to go, but it would be waste of his sacrifice.

He cursed again, he felt restless. He wanted to get out of his room and settle this. Yet, he was forced to wait, at least, it wouldn't be long. His rage settled.

Naruto watched the Hokage monument, there had been none erected of any Hokage, and nor was that such a thing anymore.

When time passed, he realized that hunger was now a thing. That unfamiliar pang of 'pain' in his belly. There was plenty of food, things he never tasted before that made his mouth water and strange with its texture.

While he was alone, there were also things to help pass the time. No longer did he have to wait in the dark only occupied by his thoughts. Books or movies, as well as a simple training room. He wrote, or he cooked, trying out recipes that he had never bothered to cook before.

Every couple of weeks, someone would come in and restock the food. They would tell him things of the outside world. That was only one person and they never stayed long.

Actual dates were another thing he had forgotten about, as well as the growth of his own hair. It grew too long, so he cut it with a pair of scissors. He didn't do it too well, but it would a short wait for it grow back.

Yet, no matter what he did, all he could think of was Kaguya. It felt like there was a hole in his heart. Everyday, he thought of that moment when he proclaimed his love for her. How her eyes had widened.

It had been a year since Kakashi's death, and his return to life. There was no doubt that the bodyguards were nearby in wait to utilize the technique.

His hair had grown out, so he cut it again. It was annoying to deal with, he wished it just stayed the same length.

Another year.

He noticed he had grown taller, he liked it. He hoped he grew more, because it was another thing that he had forgotten about in the illusion. So many natural occurring things.

At times, he would often feel new sensations, it reminded him that he was alive, for a lack of a better term. He found out that he really enjoyed cooking, especially new foods that had a hot new taste.

It was good enough to distract him, at least until that day. When he would finally, reunite with Kaguya.


	10. My shivered bones

The three Shinobi from earlier came barging in through the door. They gasped for air and detailed what they all felt.

What was three years to a century? Of course, he should remember that he aged now. These guys felt a little shorter. Whatever they said, he already knew why they were here.

"…there's no doubt it's the Nine tails,

why else would they be here without the seal on? He could already feel the outside world. The seal in the apartment had dispersed, and he could feel the chakra from Kurama that he had taken from Kakashi stir.

"I'd like–"

"It's fine," Naruto interrupted. "It looks like Kurama is going to reform nearby,"

"What? How do you know that?"

"I could feel it, and I managed to gather enough of Kurama's chakra as a center point through you three," he replied. Not that he did it separately, but mostly nudged Kurama's chakra to gather.

Because, he had died in another dimension, he had to try something to bring him back here, rather than somewhere Sasuke could reach.

"Instead, I'd like for you all to evacuate everyone in the village to safety," he asked. They hesitated, "Now,"

They finally acknowledged his command, and quickly left to follow it. Naruto left the apartment, and he felt the freezing wind hit his face. It prickled his skin, sending goosebumps down his spine.

His breath was visible, and the shine from the sun was a welcome heat. He felt like new life was breathed into him. A second wind, a second chance. He could feel it in his bones, it was all or nothing.

Naruto ran, and felt for the old connection of beast that been inside him, that helped him escape from the illusion. It was further away from the village, in the deep forest that was covered with the white snow.

In a clearing, he could already see the red chakra taking shape. Moments passed as it grew larger, higher than the trees, and rivaling a mountain. Until finally, the full manifestation of Kurama, the nine-tailed fox.

"Hey, buddy, did ya miss me?" He grinned.

"Naruto!" Kurama grinned. "I see you've been revived,"

He shrugged, "As much as I want you to be free, I'm afraid we don't have a choice. Sasuke will be here soon, and he'll try to seal, or control you,"

"That Uchiha, I see, I don't mind it in the slightest,"

It would be easy. All he had to do was simply connect their chakra again, and Kurama had already extended his fist. A simple raise of his fist, and it would be over. Yet, he couldn't bring himself to do it.

"Well, before that happens, I do have to tell you something," Naruto said. So he told Kurama, the quick and dirty version.

The fox looked at him, a hard stare, and the giant ear flickered. Naruto felt a little foolish, but he felt that weight in his stomach. The way his hair on his arm stood rigid. Fear was a terrible thing. He would beg if he had too.

"Seriously? You were in there for quite the long time, weren't you?"

He swallowed hard, trying to settle the pit in his stomach. "Yeah, don't worry, I'm not going to try to continue that plan. I did die to stop it, after all,"

"Are you still that kid that wanted to bring peace?"

He hadn't even thought about bringing peace to this world. When was the last time? He couldn't even recall it.

Naruto sighed, and looked to the ground. His hands felt clammy,"No, I'm just someone who tried to survive, desperately clinging to anything that could do that. Yet, I do still want the best for you, and for the rest of my friends,"

Kurama regarded him with a sad eye, "There's still something left in you. Once, maybe, it'll come back,"

He couldn't even speak, and it was impossible to see with how he was looking underwater.

"I'll trust ya kid,"

"Thank you,"

Naruto held his fist out, and Kurama connected. The nine tails turned into a stream of chakra and phased into him. He felt that power again, of both he and Kurama.

"I'll believe in you, like I did before,"

Naruto stirred in his thoughts, and he waited for that moment. The thoughts that had stirred within him, cooking and boiling for this confrontation.

He felt it, Sasuke's chakra nearby that appeared from thin air. Naruto glanced, and saw a portal open. Out stepped out his rival.

There had been many thoughts as to how this would end. Yet, as he saw his friend and the gaze of his eyes, he knew how it would end. His decision had nothing to do with Kaguya. It was of his past, that formed him to how he was today. His past had formed him, that made him strong enough to endure that illusion.

Surprise flickered across his eyes, and they stared at each other.

"It's been a long time," Sasuke said. "You're older than I last saw you, so I assume Kakashi might have something to do with that. So it's been three years,"

A long time? He nodded, and he looked toward the village, but he couldn't see it. He couldn't help that grin that appeared on his lips, "Well, it seems that even death can't stop me, but I see you've been busy,"

He could see his Rinnegan that formed in his eye, "Have you seen what I've done? There will be no more wars, that previous world had its faults, and its time has come to an end. This will last forever under my watch,"

Naruto took a deep breath, it felt like it burned his lungs, but it was the cold. So this was what he wanted, there had been no more Kage for the other villages.

"Really? You've killed a lot of people, and some were my friends," he replied. "A place ruled by fear doesn't seem like peace,"

"I don't require these connections, they'll only be in my way to continue this world. All of the shinobi's opponents had been put to rest, it was a matter of time before they bickered with one another. I will be their eternal foe,"

His thoughts flickered to Kaguya.

"Trust me when I say, I doubt that you'll' last. You may say that now, or somewhere down the road. But one day, what will stop you from changing? I remember when I wanted peace, brought by understanding; when I wanted was to stop you down this dark path,"

He failed.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, "You were trapped in there for a long time, weren't you? The feel of your chakra changed, and even its color, yellow, to a reddish orange,"

He didn't even notice that his chakra had changed color, "Yeah, to be honest, I lost track of how long I spent inside her illusion. A millennium? More than that? Either way, I don't think you'll maintain this world you've created–as you said–forever,"

"And you're going to stop me?"

Naruto grinned, "That resolve might crumble or alter. One day, you'll stop and ask yourself, 'what's the point? Why should I even care?' and maybe you'll go on for a bit and continue, but you'll fail. As far as I know, you kept to the shadows, no one knows where you are,"

Who would he depend on when he doubted himself?

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, "You didn't answer the question,"

"You want to know why I stopped Kaguya? It wasn't because that the world was at stake, and I wanted to do the right thing. I wanted to prove her wrong, and that just so happened that it would save the world. To be honest, for a moment, I truly thought about helping her, but that wouldn't have helped her, or myself,"

"So you've been brought to insanity?"

Was love insane? No wonder 'madly in love' was a phase,

"well, not quite," but almost, he had to admit. Though, those might be the thoughts of a crazy person. "While I might do what I've always done before, the reasons have changed. Maybe you can continue, but not the way you're going about it now,"

Sasuke stared, and Kurama broke an illusion.

"Instant," he muttered.

"Yeah, I've come to stop you. I'm still your friend. I'll get what I want, no matter how it ends,"

Naruto dispersed a clone, and he felt nature energy that he gathered enter him.

There were no other words said. Sasuke was there, the next, his chidori aimed at his heart. Naruto managed to sidestep it, and he felt his heart quicken.

He almost failed in that instant. He didn't let up, and Sasuke teleported again. Naruto clashed with him, and he felt his heart skip a beat. He felt a grin grace his lips. They disconnected, paused and gave distance; they stared.

"You almost died, and you're making that face?"

"Dying wasn't so bad the first time," he replied. "And it felt nostalgic,"

All those years before when they were kids. It was a distant memory, and If he had to be honest, he forgotten about them until now.

"Those days are long gone,"

He could still treasure those memories, and they even felt fresh in his mind.

"They helped me survive, even if for a little while," he replied. He didn't want to replicate those memories while he had been there.

Naruto fought with him. As he exchanged blows, he could feel that connection between them, of the pain and the loneliness they experienced in their youth.

There was hardly any sort of happiness that Sasuke had. What would be Sasuke's light in the world? If he had one, how brilliant was it? And how long could it shine?

The day dragged on, and the land around them changed. What was once a white, snowed-covered forest was a flattened wasteland. He could see the village in the distance. Sasuke even managed to use the tailed beasts chakra he had sealed away.

He had to do everything he had to do to survive that onslaught. Sasuke's Susanoo was truly a spectacle. The snow had blown away, the mountains crumbled, and deep chasms formed from their fight.

Night turned to day, and day turned to night. The more he fought, old memories resurfaced at the forefront of his mind.

"Damn it, how the hell are you still going?"

He never felt so heavyweight, keeping his head up was an effort. The winter cold had frozen his lungs and every breath hurt. "I can do this forever,"

Obviously not, but for a long time didn't roll off the tongue.

Even at the end, he couldn't even stand over him. He fell to his knees. Everything fucking hurt. Any wince would only send more pain rippling across his body. His body had been set aflame, and his vision darkened at the edges.

Through half swollen eyes, Sasuke stared at him. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

He shook his head.

"I'm not going to kill you. Next time, can you not kick my ass so fucking badly?"

Sasuke's words was barely higher than a whisper, "Next time?"

Someone who had killed his friends, and numerous other people in order to bring about peace in his own way. A violent end to a violent world.

So, what was he to do with that? Go about his way that he wanted to do once upon a time? Even during all his time spent, there was no clear, definitive solution that he found.

"No matter what you did, I can't even bring myself to kill you," he said. Kaguya had done worst to him, and she didn't influence this decision. She meant a lot to him, but Sasuke did too. "We might not share any blood, but you're the brother I chose,"

Maybe love was truly crazy. He wasn't certain if that could be considered a good thing. It was nonsensical, or at least it felt that way to him.

"I forgive you, it's crazy I know," Naruto said. "I just can't help it, and if I have to beat you over the head again. I'll do it a thousand times over,"

"You still want to fight?" Sasuke muittered. "How long has it been? Two days? Three?"

"You're asking the wrong person," he replied. The days blurred together, but he still did need sleep. "What I do want, is for you to do, and be well,"

"Can you truly say that? I've killed your friends,"

"Yup, no matter what you've become," Naruto said. "That doesn't mean I wasn't angry,"

A pause, "I don't believe you. I'm too far gone, everything I've done I can't atone for. Even if you forgive me, all the others of this world won't,"

"I've had no hope of escaping Kaguya for the longest time, when I did, I had to wait centuries to escape. You were planning on doing this until the end of time, so you can atone for that time. too, even if that day might never come,"

"Following that logic, one day I'll decide that atoning is worthless,"

He leaned against a flattened tree. Sasuke was in no shape to move, he was hardly any better. He felt the bite of the air. He didn't realize how cold it was, but it felt strange that the tips of his toes and fingers felt warm.

"Then if you're really thinking about it, I'll do what I did, over and over again,"

Sasuke can turn a new leaf, then there was some sliver of hope for Kaguya too. Perhaps, but he hoped for it

"I've severed all my bonds, and even with you, but you never did,"

"Take it from me, _no one_ can survive being alone. I did everything I could, and no matter what I think of, everything brings me back to Kaguya,"

"Look at you, a bastion of hope,"

Naruto laughed, but it died when it felt like he might break something. "Well, you've done something stupid. So, I'm going to do the something stupid too,"

"Like what?"

He could take his eye, he wouldn't be stopped; another temptation that sung pleasantly in his mind. Yet, the easy road was not something he could do.

"I don't feel at home in this world anymore, at least not without Kaguya," he replied. "help me unseal her,"

"You're crazy,"

"I think you already knew that,"

"Why?" he asked.

"Because I love her," Naruto replied. "I guess, you have a choice; you can say yes, survive another day, atone or try for your world again. Or no, and maybe we'll both die here. Either way, one day, those from the Ootsutsuki clan will come here one day,"

He was smart. The clear moral, smart choice would be to say no. Rather than risk bringing Kaguya's plan to fruition again. Fighting against him and Kaguya would be hard to do. It felt ages waiting for his answer.

"Naruto," Sasuke said. "if it means some semblance of happiness for you, fine, I'll do it. I've caused enough pain,"

He really couldn't believe it.

* * *

Not until he saw the moon crumbling right before him the next day.

The moon crumbled, massive pieces of earth rained down. He flew up, rushing forward while Sasuke trailed behind him. Whenever a piece came dropping atop of hin, he swept it away or destroyed it.

His heart began to race when he saw her, suspended in the air, hidden behind numerous debris that floated around them. They got closer, and Kaguya was alerted to their presence and unsealing.

Her eyes fluttered open, and she looked dazed. Then alertness took over, and she looked around. They were spotted, and she looked at him with confused features.

"You," she said, "freed me?"

Naruto grinned, "Well, of course I did. I'd rather not be gone from you for long,"

Her eyes went pass him, before settling on him again. She wasn't as powerful anymore, without the tailed beasts sealed inside her. There was no doubt she was quite strong without them. She also knew they could easily reseal her back inside.

"Why?"

"There would be a lot of things that you would do for Love. Do you remember how that feels? As I told you, that's what drives me,"

Her hand twisted, her palm opened. He felt a presence, a light red of chakra that didn't belong to hers; it was his.

"It's as you said, even without memories of these silly promises you made here,"

So he had sealed a portion of his chakra with her, what promises did he make?

"I didn't want to leave you behind,"

Her eyes flickered to him, a flash of something that he couldn't even hope to make out.

"This belongs to you," she said. Kaguya held out a hand, his chakra was still in the palm of her hand.

He inched closer, and his chakra merged with his own. It was a strange feeling, he felt more. The thoughts and memories filtered through him. It was almost like a shadow clone, but it felt tangible.

"I…" he didn't know what to say.

She said nothing, but kept a wary eye on him. Naruto had to wonder if Kaguya and the ten-tails were one and the same, both influenced by the other.

"I keep all my promises," he said. She could fire her all killing ash bone and he wouldn't be able to react in time.

"And so you managed to stay true for all that time, haven't you?"

"Almost, but surviving is what counted,"

"I suppose that would be true," she replied. She stayed where she was.

He felt his heart hammering in his chest. "Just what you might do for love, there's a lot of things you'd do in fear. I've proven you wrong, or that my way of doing things was better. I want to know; would you be willing to wait and find out that I can prove it again?"

"Defeating my clan?" she asked.

He nodded, afraid that if he said anything more it would be wrong. He held out a hand for her, outstretched for her to take.

"I'm still not entirely sure, but I think people show their love in different ways,"

"Is that what your love is?"

He nodded, and he wondered what hers might be. She said nothing, but Kaguya glanced at his hand. It was a pondering stare.

"Can you risk the chance of seeing me fail? If that happened, I'll admit you would've been right all along. Or, that maybe, hopefully, one day you'll remember how far you'd be willing to go for someone?"

"Either sounds silly,"

"Maybe if you think about it," he replied. "I had always went for what felt right, that's always what guided me,"

She was silent, staring and gauging. Naruto closed his eye and awaited for whatever that happened. Perhaps Sasuke could change his mind and do away with them both. So many possibilities.

But he felt her hands lightly on his, fingers grazing on his own and letting go. Her words were hardly more than a whisper.

"We'll see," she said. Nothing less, nothing more. It was enough for him to last a life time.

He couldn't describe what he felt right now. The weight in his stomach flipped, and he knew that forever was ahead of them. Even if he was still trapped in an illusion, then he was content with it.


	11. Sleep well beast

"One day, you'll give in to her,"

"Or she to me," he replied.

Sasuke nodded. He looked to his surroundings, an empty world devoid of people. One of Kaguya's own dimensions that was to be his banishment. A self-imposed exile.

"What will you tell them?" Sasuke asked.

"That you're dead,"

"I can ruin that farce immediately. What would others think of that?"

"doesn't matter," he replied. "There are other Ootsutsuki coming, you know that?"

"As you mentioned, the day they do, they'll be dead on arrival,"

Naruto wasn't certain the next time they would talk. They shared the last few words, of releasing the tailed beasts. There were no goodbyes, no farewells to all those memories in the distant past. It would never be the same or come close to those times.

He didn't spare a look back, and he stepped into the portal. The white of snow and the village popped into view, nestled and hidden away.

The snow crunched beneath his feet and he found a fallen log to rest on. He swept the snow off and sat and stared at the village. For once, he could appreciate the view that wasn't blocked by a building.

He felt her lingering presence behind, and she walked into view. Her hair was so long, it dragged across the deep snow and left a light trail. The shade of her hair seemed to blend with it. The cold didn't seem to bother her.

She did not sit with him, instead standing ahead in his view of the village. The horns she possessed was otherworldly. Her back faced him, and she said nothing until he broke the silence.

"How do you feel?"

It was a long while before she responded, "I want to be more,"

Spooky.

He blew a raspberry, he expected no immediate recovery and improvement. He crossed his arms, and he didn't bother to stand. He supposed he should tell everyone that Sasuke had been dealt with, but that could wait.

"Is that an urge from that Ten-Tails?" he replied. Of course, she no longer possessed the Ten-tails, or at least the full embodiment that came from all the tail beasts coming together. Yet, just as Kaguya had deeply affected him, the Ten-Tails had left its mark on her.

"I do not know," she replied.

"Anything else to add?"

Silence. Of course, she had said nothing else when she'd taken his hand. No reassurance, or anything of the sort. He didn't want to press it, simply because he wanted to see it come to fruition on her own.

"In any case, you're not going to try and murder everyone for their chakra anytime soon, right?"

She angled her face, enough that he didn't have to strain to hear her. "It's a fleeting thought,"

"That's a relief," he muttered. He felt his shoulders sag, "Can you at least promise that you won't do it on a whim?"

"It wouldn't do well to eliminate chakra."

"We both know what I mean, I want an absolute."

"I wouldn't have a need for it if you were to defeat my clan."

He laughed, "Well, that's a pending thing. Unless you want to show me the door to where they are?"

Nothing. Nothing but the rush of wind.

"Damnit! I'd figured by now, you'd at least say a little more," he spat. He hung his head, "It would be better wouldn't? You wouldn't have to wait, they would be out of the way, or I'd die, and you would've been right all along. It would be willing to do so many things just for you,"

More stillness of winter wild. Oh, she was like the cold bite of the wind, but he also felt it inside him.

"A waste of a life,"

Damn it. Just like that.

Of all his foes, none had bested him, none had done other than wound him with bruises and cuts. A temporary pain, superficial. None had troubled him the way his loved ones had. Kaguya was lodged so deeply, he wasn't sure he could recover if it was ripped out; it would be easy for her to do.

A pain worth bearing to discard solitude.

"You don't want me to go then?" he said, if only to confirm it.

"I don't."

He took a deep breath and looked to the sky. There were golden cracks in the grey clouds, a little sunshine. It started to snow light fluffy flakes, dancing in the air as they fell. He liked the winter.

"Well, to tell the truth," he sighed. "I'm not entirely sure what to do next."

He supposed he could tell the others that they were free from Sasuke, but that didn't seem so pressing.

The village? He didn't know which of his friends had survived, he had heard little about them. He thought of the times when it was simpler. For ages, surviving was the only thing he could do. He never got the chance to say goodbye to those last days.

"Tell me, since you didn't tell me before, were you in the illusion as long as me?"

"Half the length,"

He truly lost count of how long he was in there, but either way, Kaguya was with him for a long time too.

Naruto felt the chill seep in, he guessed he would need to figure out a couple of things. A place to stay but being in the village seemed to dangerous. Kaguya would probably kill anyone who got in her way. It was best to take that slow.

"So, Uh, I'm guessing you're going to stay around me, or something like that?"

"For now,"

It felt like the conversation he had with Sasuke.

He supposed he had to some things to do. To prepare for them, there was some excitement that he felt. But he was glad for this.

* * *

Captain Yamato built this house for him. Of course, he had asked questions as to why, but Naruto had answered that it was important. That everything that happened had changed him. Yamato didn't push any further after that.

Of course, he had asked about Kaguya, but no one knew about her. The only surviving people who knew about her were himself and Sasuke.

It was a distance away from the village, above on the nearby mountains, and as he found out, nearby on the dilapidated shrine he had built for Jiraiya.

Naruto had been enraptured by his cooking that he hadn't realized that Kaguya had left the living room. He usually cooked for them.

He wandered through the house, but she wasn't in her room, and not his own. Naruto found her out in the patio. He slid the glass door open and stepped out to join her. Her hands clutched the wooden railing, brow furrowed at the distant sounds that emanated from the village.

"What's below?" she asked.

Darkness covered the world, but fireworks lit up the sky over the village. The blasts echoed throughout the horizon and splashed rainbow colors below. The distant music was almost lost with the howls of wind.

He had to think about why they might be doing something like this. He was a little more conscious that he aged now. Yet, days blurred and mixed one after the other. What was it? A year after his fight with Sasuke?

Of course, he gotten an invitation some time ago. It was that time already? To celebrate him freeing everyone from Sasuke's control. It had been winter when he freed them all, and it was to the day now.

"They're celebrating. Something about a new awakening, almost like new year's, I guess."

"So often," she said. Her eyes reflected the fireworks, but her eyes narrowed, and a hint of annoyance. "They seem so fascinated with explosives,"

"Food's ready," he muttered. She nodded and left inside.

She despised 'humanity' as she said, but she found him tolerable enough. He was a reminder –the words didn't seem right– of her lost humanity.

So, she stayed with him, but she had her own room. She wasn't the talkative sort, he talked enough for them both.

He stared at the fireworks, and strained to hear the music. _Get them away_ she said to him when one group that had wandered too close. She didn't need to say that a horrible would have awaited them if he didn't shoo them away.

He returned inside, and she waited for him on the table. She had placed their food on the table for them. He sat down across from her on the small table.

"Thank you," he said. It was a small thing, but it was meaningful.

They ate in quiet; a familiar routine. Sometimes, he did missions if not to keep the cupboards full and having nice things in the house. Stuff that he enjoyed in his free time that maybe she would enjoy too. Cards, television, and some other games.

Cooking was something he greatly enjoyed. If he had leftovers, which was often, he went to the village and stopped by the orphanage.

They finished, and she left for the living room. She sat on a large zabuton. He played some music. She was fond of the koto, or the modern string instruments. Sometimes, she would hum along to it.

"Feels a little early, but how do you feel now?" he asked. "Do you feel a little more, 'human'?"

Her eyes found him. "ha," was released from her lips, an almost laugh. "A little would be correct,"

Naruto smiled, and sat across from her. "Are you interesting in more? Or at the very least, those old emotions you used to feel?"

"Like love?" she asked. "We've established that,"

"Well, a reminder," he said. He scratched his chin and looked away. How actually was this supposed to go, was he supposed to go for it, or just ask? "I was thinking about something more obvious,"

"Such as?"

"Something like a kiss?" he rubbed the nape of his neck. He was so unfamiliar with this, he was trudging new ground here. Despite being stuck in a world in which any dream could come true, he had never thought about romance and love for himself.

Besides, it felt so alien. In what was supposed to be his greatest enemy some years ago to now. Something like that was impossible to picture. Maybe it had to be that she hardly seemed feminine.

"Perhaps,"

Awkwardly, he leaned in closer, she didn't move but instead stared. He swallowed that nervous lump and ignored the flipping in his stomach.

He planted a soft kiss upon her lips. It was searing to his own, and he could feel his lips tingle when he withdrew. His heart raced.

"It was pleasant, yes," she replied. A soft sigh escaped from her.

"More?" he asked. An almost imperceptible nod.

They had all the time in the world, but he wanted progress as quickly as she could manage.

* * *

He read the words aloud, so that she'd listen along. She seemed to enjoy it. Sometimes, he would read aloud these novels that he bought, like now. She sat on the floor, a large soft carpet that she had requested.

Otherwise, she would simply take a seat and listen to music.

Naruto wasn't paying much attention to the book. He just read line after line, only to realize by the end of the page he hadn't remembered a single thing about it. He kept reading, as he decided it wasn't too important.

Strange. He remembered in his youth, life felt so slow, each day a crawl and it would reset with the sun. Now, he barely noticed that weeks had passed, a life living in fast-forward. How old was he now? Twenty-two? He felt much older.

He doubted he'd ever feel like he did all those years ago. In fact, he wanted to be with Kaguya for a long time. He would live eternal with her.

"I can hear it," she said.

"What's that?" he asked.

Kaguya moved a stray piece of her white hair out of her eyes, and stared into a piece of art. He waited for her to continue.

It had been bare inside this room, so he had decorated it with paintings. She had said nothing about it, so he assumed she liked it enough. This one was a simple, a winter creek with the morning sun reflecting off its stream.

Kaguya turned her gaze to him, "It's less of a voice, and more of a hunger," hey eyes went dark. "Perpetual, I feel as nothing can possibly sate it. On occasion, it disappears, but it's always temporary."

"When does it go away?" he could take a couple of guesses.

"I suppose, when my emotions get the better of me,"

He hummed. He hadn't seen her furious since their time in the illusion, it was an easy emotion and often easily distinguishable.

"When I kiss you, does that help?" he said. "Even if for a little?"

Instead of waiting for answer that wouldn't be acknowledged, he kissed her. More passionate, and deeper than their first one. It left them both breathless. He craved more, what she said applied to him. He hungered for her presence.

He continued, but his lips left hers, and trailed down her neck, and he felt her hands curl in his hair. The more he did, the more her breathing grew deep and labored. He relished how her skin felt against his, soft and flushed.

He wounded up on top of her, and he could feel the heat of their bodies. A heated stare, half-lidded with desire. Her impossibly long hair was strewn everywhere. She was both lovely and deadly.

* * *

One day, she left. At times, he wasn't certain about his feelings about this; one pulled him one way, another the opposite. That he wanted nothing more than to be at her side. The other being that he felt pathetic that he depended so much on her.

Months passed without so much as a word or hint of her presence. No sighting or any sort of news of her. She still despised others, loathed them with all her heart. It was always a fear he carried that one day he would awake to something disastrous. That day never came.

He worked, completing missions that was assigned to him. He saved a good portion of money when he completed a mission. Each night he returned, he had a lively step, hoping that it was the day that he would find her there. It was more than a year when he had started to sleep in her room–when she was still around.

It was in the dead of night when she returned. At first, he thought it was a dream.

She turned on the light in the room, and it was blinding for a moment. He wiped the sleep from his eyes, the sight of her sent his heart racing. Finally.

"Where have you been?" he asked. He sat up from the bed. His voice rough with sleep.

She said nothing, and it was only when she sat next to him, when he realized she held something protectively in her arms. A bundle of blankets, or so he thought.

"Her name is Kaiya," she said. "That acceptable?"

"Kaiya?" he swallowed hard. He focused on the bundle and found a baby. He saw the small, blond mop of hair. A little whimper.

"I'm…A dad?" what a fucking _strange_ word to say. She nodded, and she carefully passed the precious bundle to him.

There was nothing he could say. He had prepared no words of this possibility. Of all his time, in all of his dreams, he had never thought of a family. He wasn't prepared for the emotion that swelled inside him as he stared at his daughter.

"A great name," he muttered. His voice thick, he had to force those words.

"Her birth was on twentieth of March,"

Kaiya slept peacefully, but she stirred when he held her. She looked so tiny in his arms, light and delicate. This was beyond his wildest dreams, and there had been many of them.

He couldn't help but lean into Kaguya to feel her warmth.

"I love you," he muttered. She was the love of his life.

* * *

Kaiya affected him. Her presence was a wonderful boon. Whenever he was away, each moment was spent trying to get back to her. When he was with her, he treasured each small moment, no matter how insignificant.

"As I found out," he muttered. "Your mother has a bit of a sweet tooth."

His only audience was Kaiya, several months old and placed in a basket carefully set away from his cooking. She gazed at him with wide, white eyes of her mother.

"Not chocolate or candy though, but something a little fruitier. Like Lemon cakes, or strawberry cheesecake, or what I'm making now, a smoothie. Things like that. I wonder if you'll be the same," he pondered. He moved the ingredients into the blender, a wild berry smoothie.

He kept a careful eye, each coo Kaiya sounded out made him smile. Once he finished supper and Kaguya's dessert, he called out to her that everything was finished.

Kaguya came down to the kitchen table. She wasn't too fond of modern clothing, instead she wore similar styles of her original wear. This time she wore a red kimono, with a large white obi tied around her waist. He couldn't help but stare.

The first thing that Kaguya noticed was the smoothie that he had made for her. A pleased smile followed by a nod of her thanks. He wanted more, but he settled for this.

They ate together. Kaiya had fallen asleep. Hopefully, she wouldn't be up all night again.

"I must leave," Kaguya announced.

Stirred from his thoughts, he dropped his fork, and it clattered against the plate. "What do you mean by that?"

"I can't quell it," she replied, her eyes were resolved, "not for much longer."

Of course, he remembered what she meant. From some of their previous conversations. He frowned and glanced at the sleeping form of his daughter.

"When I decide to gather power again, you will be the first to die,"

He wasn't dead yet. "No, you can't do that. I don't want you to go. What about our daughter? I need your help, I can't do it alone."

"It would be best to seal me away, this is a fear that cannot be mended until it is gone,"

"please no," he replied. He wanted to yell, but he kept his voice quiet. "Don't, please,"

He was pulled away, suddenly, he was brought within Kurama's seal. The open seal, and within it sat Kurama. Larger than previous times, he was now whole.

"Never would I have thought she would be the reasonable one," the fox said. It leaned in closer, it's massive snout some arms length's away. Its giant red eyes bored into him.

He gritted his teeth and swore under his breath.

"Don't think I haven't felt all those emotions you had all these years. I know despair when I feel it, the hurt and helplessness."

Naruto didn't want to reply to that question, of course, Kurama could sense negative emotions. Truth be told, he forgot that he could borrow that power too. "It's been a little while,"

Kurama frowned, as much it could with fangs.

"Do as she says, "Kurama said. The eyes narrowed, "For once, think of what it means. She's worried for you, and of her daughter. To volunteer herself to sealing, I didn't think it was possible. She may not care for any one else, but for her, the two of you are good enough. "

"I don't know,"

"hmph, Once, you said that you would make it a little less mad. When you got out of that technique, I was sad for you, knowing that circumstances brought you down. If you can no longer bear it for the sake of the tailed beasts and your friends. Then perhaps you'll do it for your daughter, and perhaps Kaguya will be a little more convinced too."

He tried to not weep. He just got his family, and now? It was being taken away from him far too soon. He could take any opponent, no matter how powerful, and he would find a way to beat them. He wasn't strong enough for this.

Kaguya had taken him, wrapped her arms around him. Some of the few acts of intimacy that she would do.

"I don't want you to go," he cried.

"One day," she said.

He wasn't sure how long that would be. Kaguya had been here for such a long time, waiting for those of her clan to come again. How long would that be? One year? A hundred? Time was different for those with a long life. A large flame died quicker.

Already, he felt an intense blinding hate for those of her clan. He wanted to tear them apart.

* * *

Things had slowed considerably. It felt a lifetime ago since he last saw her. He didn't like to think of it, but it was difficult with her living reminder. He often wandered if she would be proud.

Yet, no matter how it was. This was for the best. Kaguya's hatred of humanity would have been passed down to Kaiya, as much as he believed it wouldn't.

He saw a few people that he recognized. Old friends that he'd mistaken for strangers at some point before he came back into the village. Shikamaru, and Ino. They had noticed him too, waiting with the other parents in front of the academy. He had reconnected with them, but they also noticed his change.

Shikamaru had looked at him, a quick, single wave before he left with his son in tow. He shared a few words with Ino before she was swept away by someone she knew.

Until, finally, his daughter found him, and they left on their way back home. It was a strange thing. Those times without her, seemed to sweep past awful fast. Now, since the last six years, it seemed to be a strange mix of going too fast or preciously slow.

He had done his best to care for her.

"How was school?" he asked.

She frowned, and he could see the hurt within her eyes. Her hands inched up to her head to trace one of her little horns, a little noticeable. An inch high. "W-Why do I have these?"

"Why? What happened?" he replied. Clearly, it hadn't gone as well as he hoped.

She tore off her little bag and dropped it. He had to pick it up for her. She looked to the ground, "Some made fun of me,"

He swallowed a lump and tried to not frown. "Did they…call you names?" she shook her head, and he had to quietly release his sigh. It would break his heart to hear something like demon, "how about friends? Did you make any friends?"

"Uhm, you know them," she sighed. Obviously, Shikadai and Inojin were a couple that she grew up with. "Why do I have these? No one else has them…"

Naruto bit his lip. "When we get back home, but they're from your mother,"

There was still a lot of people. Many people of the village had realized he preferred privacy, but there was the occasional tourist eager to meet him. Of course, he had since moved back into the village. Children needed friends after all.

She gasped, her eyes widened. "Promise?"

"Of course,"

They arrived home quickly. He hadn't been looking forward to the day she finally asked about her mother.

"So?" she had taken off her shoes and arranged them.

He went into the kitchen and put back the pan on the heat. She had followed him.

"Don't be ashamed of those horns," he replied. He scratched his cheek, "You might not have these, but those are from your mother,"

Suddenly, she went wide-eyed. "My momma?" she asked. "Everyone has one…"

Naruto had to wonder about her shy, almost anxious nature. Where had she got that from? Maybe he had passed it on from his own fears. From his fear of never seeing Kaguya again, that she would grow in a war-torn world, or when those from the Ootsutsuki clan would arrive.

Her white eyes directed elsewhere, and she scratched at her head where one of her horns grew.

Kaiya resembled her mother, even at her young age. There were still clear differences, features that she inherited from him. The eyebrows, the shape of her eyes, the hair color.

He felt a lump in his throat and his stomach flip. He refocused on preparing supper for her, a perfect excuse. It already had been cooked before he had picked her up from school.

"Well…" he didn't quite know where to start. Her mother wasn't perfect, far from it. "Ask away. You want to know about your mother, right?"

"Where's my momma?"

"She's gone," he replied. "I'm not too sure when she'll be back,"

He wasn't certain if he wanted it to be soon, or later; that brought problems on its own.

"Why?"

Kaiya was silent for a moment. Enough that he had finished the pasta and sauce and poured them on a plate for them both.

"She's sick,"

He expected the questions, and he thought he would be prepared for them, but he was wrong. It felt like needles puncturing into his heart. He stayed composed, at least outwardly. He missed her, he yearned for their reunion.

"How?"

Of course, she wasn't done with her million questions a minute and he wouldn't try to not answer.

His mind went blank at that question. How to frame his answer that her mother wanted to murder everyone on the planet minus her.

"It's not like when you get sick…" he rolled his tongue, trying the right words yet none of them felt right. "I tried to help her not be sick, but I think that's only something she can do,"

Of course, he wouldn't share his fear that Kaguya would never get better. "Y'know, she liked sweets like you do too. " Of course, it didn't help that he made a lot of them.

"Oooh," she cooed. "My momma, what's my momma's name?"

"Kaguya,"

"Wow! Do you love momma?"

"Of course, I do, almost as much as I love you,"

She smiled so widely, and it was infectious.

One day, he had realized what they both meant to him. Once, he thought that Kaguya was the sun in his life, but that was wrong. She was the moon, the only light in total darkness, even if she brought the darkness. It was Kaiya who shone the brightest, brought color and light to everything around him.

He would do everything for her, his flesh and blood, and he hoped their daughter could be Kaguya's light in the world too, one day.

Those of her clan weren't the only problem, it was of the ten-tails. It's beastly instincts had imprinted. No matter how small it was, and whatever that was left of it, he would slaughter it, until then, sleep well beast.

* * *

 **END**

 **A/N: Well, I wasn't certain of the length when I first started. I actually intended for the time within the illusion to be nearly the entire story, ending when Naruto died. The length being longer than written. Of course, when I did put it to paper, it ended up being far shorter, not that I minded.**

 **Of course, there's still some unresolved things. So I can't say I fully wrapped up everything. I would say that time had finally normalized for Naruto. It might be a change of how things are presented, provided if/when i do a sequel.**


	12. Another year gets away

Epilogue

 **This is also an announcement for a sequel. I tried to make it fit it with the chapter, which should be it's own story, rather than a continuation , but I couldn't manage it, and it does better on its own anyway.**

 **These chapter titles were inspired the band "The National" notably, "Terrible Love" and "Sleep Well Beast"**

* * *

"Gotta say, I'm glad your dad finally decided to take the mantle of Hokage after all these years,"

Shikamaru Nara fiddled with a cigarette in his hand. The house didn't smell like smoke, so they must not smoke inside. It was unlit and twirled between his fingers.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked.

He leaned back on his chair and shelved his cigarette behind his ear. He grinned, Shikadai really was just a younger version of his father. "Well, your dad always used to shout on about becoming Hokage when we were kids. A fantasy at that point but grew more realistic."

She wasn't too sure on how to respond on the new information. History wasn't really shared, "Really? He never talked about being Hokage until last month,"

He hummed, a brow raised. "Before your time then, but when I was your age, it was pretty much nonstop when he shouted on being Hokage,"

It was a common thing to hear about her father, especially over the years as a ninja. While she didn't mind it, everyone, everywhere, had something to say about her father. Whether it was praise, a story, or thanks.

While Kaiya enjoyed them, it wasn't something she preferred to hear. "What about my mother?" she asked. "Have you ever met her? Her name was Kaguya,"

Shikamaru traced his beard and squinted his eyes. "I don't think I've ever met a Hyuuga with that name, I think you're better off asking Naruto.

She sighed, "I did, but I was just wondering if someone had stories to share."

Shikamaru nodded, "Understandable, I've asked a few people about my father too. Anyway, your father did live outside the village, but I wasn't living here at the time,"

She wasn't aware of that, all she knew was of the village during her time growing up.

"He did?" she had no memories of her mother, but as far as she knew, Kaiya had lived in the village her entire life.

He nodded, "Or so I've heard,"

"The Lord Hokage is here," Temari Nara came from the other room . Her eyes found her, sharp and piercing., "Shikadai was napping, lazy, like his father,"

Mr. Nara grumbled under his breath. His earlier answer, not aware where his son was at, had been told. She couldn't help but laugh.

"I'm used to that," Kaiya replied.

After a moment, her father appeared with one a ninja in tow. The others greeted with formalities. Quickly, her father found her.

"Kaiya," he said. Her father found the other people in the room. " Where is your son Shikamaru?" her father said. In his hand he had two masks, one for her and Shikadai.

"He's coming,"

Her father grinned, and flipped one of the masks in his hand. "It's plain to see that you made it into the Anbu."

"Oh, nice," she replied. she wasn't really certain on what to say, her father being Hokage was still a new thing. Of course, she expected to make it into the Anbu.

The person behind her father stepped up, "This is the Lord–"

He waved him off, "it's my daughter, and we're far from official business,"

"oh, uh, my apologies. I wasn't aware,"

Her father gave her a mask with the large eyes and prominent painted teeth. She swept a hand over the mask, it felt durable. Her father awaited her to try it on.

She found the mirror on the wall. Her white eyes and pale hair, with the horns that protruded above her temples, they were several inches long now. Always there, always making itself known. It had doubled in length since she remembered when it had grown.

She looked at herself and wore the masked. It felt like she was starring at someone else, a stranger. Her eyes seem to ripple with the shadow. The horns seemed to blend in with the mask, a natural adornment.

"Look at you. When I was your age, I was still a genin. Still am, actually." her father said. He laughed.

He was interrupted by Shikadai rushing down the stairs, his hair disheveled. "Mr– Lord Hokage,"

"No need for that, it's a casual visit. Better than calling you to the office," her father said. Like with her, he held out the mask for him. "Felt like ages ago when I was you guys' age. The time leading up to my seventeenth birthday was quite something,"

His eyes went distant and then found hers, "Especially the day I met your mother,"

Then he turned to Shikamaru and began to talk to them. Her mother, always gone, never here, but always reminded.

Her hand went to her head to feel the strange smooth feel of her horns. No one ever had these, no matter how strange the appearance. He had never told her when they met, she had never asked.

A mother that she didn't know. Perhaps it shouldn't have bothered her, but it had always hung over her, something looming in the corner of her mind.

Whatever conversation they were having, she interrupted.

"Dad," she said. He turned to her, "Can we talk later?"

He blinked and glanced at Shikadai's father. "How about now, privately right?"

"It can wait," she said. He shook his head and waved her off. He sent away his escort, "Outside be alight?"

The attention was unwanted, but she nodded all the same. Her father ended the conversation and went outside. She followed.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I…" she faltered. Memories of their conversations returned at the forefront of her mind. "I wanted to know more about mom,"

Again, that look on his face. She didn't like to see it.

"I mean, I don't even know what she looks likes," she continued.

"Really?" he frowned. He closed his eyes, and he smiled. "Sorry. You were too young to remember. It's only¬ –I mean, you were so little when she left, but I can picture her clearly as the day she left,"

He was quiet, but she needed to know.

"She's still alive, right?"

He blinked, "Of course," he found that funny for some reason. "Imagining your mom dying is impossible,"

Why hasn't she come back yet? Yet, it was as impossible as her father dying, which apparently, had happened. Though it must have been an exaggeration.

"Look," he sighed, and he stared at the village. "I…I know that I've done everything I can as your father. I know I lacked in some aspects, but I tried. I think there are only something that a mother can offer,"

He was silent for a long while. She hated this look.

"I didn't have my mom either, but at least I knew she wouldn't be around. I'm sorry I gave your hopes up,"

She held her arms close, it felt like something was prickling at the back of her mind.

"It's okay," she replied. she didn't have much words to say. "Isn't there a picture?"

He looked away, "uhhh, your mother was pretty old-fashioned, but I think I did managed to get a picture back at the cabin."

"There's a picture? At what cabin?"

"Ya know, at the cabin," he blinked. "Right, we moved a little while ago. When was that? When you were three? Holy hell you're getting old. "

"Dad," she sighed. Was forgetful the right word? No, there was some strange things that her father remembered. Unmindful seemed to be the better one. "How can you forget to bring the picture?"

He scratched the nape of his neck, "well, it was the only one I had."

"You do know they can make copies now, right?"

"Oh, well I guess that would make sense wouldn't it?"

Her feet ached, the tips of her fingers felt tingly. She wanted to move, and her father noticed her state. She remembered that she still wore the mask, but she should get used to it.

"I know," he smiled. He dug into his pocket and brought out his keys. He unhooked a single one, and gave it to her. Then he turned and pointed at the mountain to the northeast. "It's somewhere up there, just find the powerline and it should be pretty simple to find."

"My–"

"Yep," he said. "There's where I used to stay with your mom," he sighed, and stared deeply at the mountain side. "Go on, I'll make your favorite tonight,"

She laughed, "Thanks!"

* * *

She was expecting an old dusty house. She stared at the simple, two storied house. Plain, and hidden away from the village with no other cabin along the way, only made for this house.

When she entered, she heard the sink in the kitchen dripping water. It was dark, but the light flickered on to reveal the living room.

Plain, nothing told her of her mother or no picture in the living room. So she wandered the house. She found several rooms, one fairly bare. Paintings on the wall, with a stereo on the desk. Stacks of CD's and other things.

"That's a little old," she said. Though, she stared at the painting before moving to the other rooms.

In one, she found a crib, and other baby products. A little bouncy chair, it tickled at the ends of her head to find it familiar. A simple memory came to her, of running down the hallway. It disappeared as fast it came. Nothing important of child memories. She didn't know how old she might've been, it might've been imaginary.

An empty room, probably a guest room, maybe.

She found a picture on a nightstand. Kaguya and Kaiya, was inscribed underneath. She took a better look. A woman, with long white hair stood with a baby in her arms. It was a candid picture, like someone had called to her and looked behind. She wasn't smiling.

This was her mother, long pale hair, and even the horns. It was unmistakable. No one else had this horns that she had inherited. She was beautiful. Even without a smile in this picture. She saw fragments of herself, and of her father.

How was she? Was she alright? Did she love her? Did she think about her? Did she miss her?

How could her father ever forget about giving her this photo?

Kaiya touched her own horns, "Wow," she muttered.

She wasn't a strange outlier. Unique, but not alone. An Oni, some used to say. A creature from legend. Large, and ugly, an ogre with horns. People can be so cruel.

Kaiya continued to stare at the picture. Old-fashioned, and she even dressed like it. So many more questions to ask, and she hoped she would be back soon.

* * *

 **A/N: Short, yes, but I'm hard at work. It's presentation should be different from this one. so it should be a new story, so be sure to follow me, and my updates, instead of this story. Kaiya will be the major character, but I think Naruto would still have some POVS. It would be a change, rather than the summary-esque of this story. Which was appropriate, I can't commit to how long. Of course, since, of my continuation of the story rather than the death part. It will probably be a focus on the world, and Kaiya, and surrounding her heritage. It will of course be it's own thing rather than canon stuff.**


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